Shattered Mark
by I Stand in Fire for the Buffs
Summary: His name is Kazro Fhlosten. He had spent the last two years in the closest one can get to a bloodlust without losing full focus of who and what he is. He avoids as many questions about his past as he can, but when you hang around one of Fiore's strongest guilds then there isn't much you can do to avoid your past. All you can do is look to the future.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Alright, guys. This is my first go at a fanfic so go easy on the story structure. But yeah. Check it out, let me know if you think it's any good or if it's some kind of shit tier drivel.

Dawn broke over the snow covered mountaintops, the sun trying to cast its warmth into the basin holding the sleeping village known as Clover. The light reached a window in one of the few inns in town, sifting through the curtains and landing on the face of a scarlet haired mage still lost to the realm of the waking. She furrowed her brow in an attempt to fight off the increasing brightness, hoping for just a few more minutes of slumber. Begrudgingly, she sat up and let her feet rest on the cold wooden floor, inhaling sharply as she made contact. This had been enough to wake her to the point where she could finally stand up and gain her balance. As soon as she had risen to her feet, she stretched and popped her neck, while making her way over to the window. She pressed her hand up against the pane and furrowed her brow. Today was going to be frigid, even without a cloud in the sky and no wind.

She looked over to the mirror and fixed her hair, brushing it out of her eyes and letting it frame the pale skin of her face and cascade down her back. She inhaled as a golden glow surrounded her body. When the light subsided, she was no longer wearing a pair of pink pajamas, but instead a silver breastplate bearing a golden variation of a cross, the intersection lying where her heart would be, a pair of gauntlets matching the breastplate in color and shine, a flowing blue skirt ending halfway down her thighs and a pair of black boots that stopped just below her knees with the tops folded down. Peeking out from under her left pauldron was the bottom of her guild's emblem. The mark of the guild known as Fairy Tail.

"God. Why did it have to be cold today?" She muttered to herself, noticing the frost that clung to the grass outside her room's window. She looked over at the door and noticed that someone had slipped a note into her room over the course of the night. She approached the letter with a small expression of curiosity playing across her face as she unfolded it.

"Erza. The bandits are holed up in an outpost abandoned by the Rune Knights five years ago. The outpost is to the west of the city and is seven hours away by foot. Follow the main road out of town to the southwest and turn right after five miles. The path will take you straight to it. Good luck."

Erza chuckled inwardly. She knew that the man running the front desk the previous night dealt in information but she had no idea he could get that kind of information so quickly, let alone overnight. He must have had some dealings with the criminal world at some point and tried to keep his contacts just in case. She surveyed the room one last time before stepping out, making sure that she didn't leave anything behind as her brown eyes darted from the end table by the bed, to the handful of shelves scattered across the walls. Satisfied, she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

As Erza made her way along the road leading her to the abandoned outpost, she couldn't help but feel something gnawing at the back of her mind. She couldn't quite place this feeling. It wasn't quite dread; she knew anything and everything that could happen on this job would be handled. Everything that was hers in the room in Clover had been packed so she know that it wasn't an issue of forgetting something, not even a brush or hair ties. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. Whatever this feeling was, it could wait until she got back to the guildhall in Magnolia and out of the snow covered hills. Suppressing a shiver, Erza could almost feel the warmth of the place she had been calling home for so many years.

The scarlet haired mage stopped walking upon seeing what looked walls for a fortress a couple hundred yards away. Squinting, she could make out what looked like two guards standing watch at the gate, keeping close to a fire and passing a canteen back and forth. This must have been it. Erza quickly hid in the brush on the side of the path and started to silently make her way towards the parapets. Upon getting closer, she was able to make out specific details about the watchmen. Their clothing styles and colors matched the description from the job posting. Simple and functional, more than capable of staving off the cold that permeated the air. Both men were also wearing purple cloaks with some white embroidery in the center of the back. When one of them turned his back to Erza, she could see the design in its entirety. A starburst pattern partially hidden by a mountain. That mark had to belong to some form of guild or organization but it didn't even look remotely familiar to Erza. To what group the mark belonged wasn't important. She had a job to do and the sooner it was done, the better. Short swords materialized in each of her gauntleted hands, both of which were polished into a mirror like sheen, the guards shaped like wings spreading outward from the hilt.

Erza leapt out of cover at the two men, hair blowing behind her, hardly making a sound as she dispatched the two guards. Pausing for a moment to make sure they were still breathing, she moved on inside the fortress walls to continue the apprehension of the group of bandits that brought her there.

'They may be criminals but they at least deserve a trial.' She thought to herself. It was true. Erza absolutely hated killing for any reason and would do anything and everything she could to avoid it.

Her internal monologue was interrupted when she saw a flare rocket up to the sky, exploding in a shower of phosphorescent purple and green. A grimace worked its way across her face. Had they found her? Erza had not wanted to give up the element of surprise but this time it looked like she had no say in the matter. She hurried to the center of the star-shaped fortress, swords at the ready and hoping to draw out any and all enemies. The plan worked as Erza was quickly surrounded by over fifty of the bandits, all of them with their faces covered with balaclavas to fight off the weather.

'Shit. I should have spent more time scouting the area.' She cursed to herself. Planning was never really one of her strong suits, usually preferring a more direct approach to whatever task was before her.

The armor clad female felt something pierce her neck and flow from it into her veins. Her eyes widened rapidly in realization of what was happening. She felt her body go limp as her vision darkened. This definitely was not part of her plan. As her consciousness floated away she heard a gruff voice pierce the oncoming silence.

"Throw the chains on and put her in a cell. We can't afford an escape right now"

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Erza awoke and forced her eyes open, pulling herself into a sitting position. She noticed that she was in something resembling a cell, surrounded by three bars with a handful of torches providing light on the far wall of the room. Moonlight filtered through a small barred window on the wall behind her. The last words she heard before passing out resonated in her head. The mage tried to stretch her arms out but was stopped by the sound of cuffs and chains leading from her wrists to a single point below the window in her cell. Attempts to call forth a sword were met with empty hands. They had used magic sealing cuffs.

"Dammit. I can not believe they were able to sneak up on me like that. How? I should have heard it or at least felt someone behind me." She said aloud.

Erza's ears twitched and she turned her eyes to the shadows on the far side of the room. She heard someone coming. A door opened and she steeled her resolve. No emotion. No begging. She might be captured but pride is not something that she would relinquish easily. A figure made its way through the shadows towards her, the silhouette highlighted by what little light the torches emanated. The figure held a hand out towards one of the light sources; it came off the wall and floated to the waiting hand and was brought between the figure and the red haired woman. Erza could make out the face of a man, weather beaten and bearing a short gray beard and a scar running vertically down his right eye with long scraggly hair of the same color with a shock of white running down the left side of his face. The air around the man meant one thing: he was the leader of this group. He stared her down, his black beady eyes felt as if they were trying to bore a hole through her.

"The famous Titania, I presume?" It was the same voice she had heard before blacking out. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable. No one will find you here. Not for a really long time. Honestly, I thought you would have been harder to bring down but it seems even giants can fall. Now, tell me. Why did you waste your time coming all the way out here?"

"Let me go. Now." Erza demanded, her eyes narrowing at her captor. Her response came in the form of a chortle.

"My dear, you are in no position to be making demands. You have no leverage. You have nothing of value to me. The ones who follow my orders, however, might find something to their liking." He said as he flashed her a lecherous grin.

He had broken through some of her resolve as the prisoner withdrew, placing her back against the wall. He was about to continue the mental torture when the sound of an explosion rocked the prison. Erza could see a pulsing green glow in the dust that was starting to scatter through the cell. Screams of pain could be heard, piercing the air and sending a shiver down the requip mage's spine. She looked back at the man and saw his eyes widen in terror and his face almost contorting into an expression of disbelief. Another figure burst through the door. This one's face clearly illuminated by the torch and it only showed one thing. Fear.

"Boss, it's him! That demon is here!" He shouted, terror making his voice shaky.

"Shit. I thought you and two others put him down in Waas Forest two months ago." He regained some of his composure. "No matter. We'll end it here and n-"

Before the leader could finish his sentence, a booming voice echoed across the compound.

"Ansil! Show yourself, you fucking coward!"

"Come on, Lim. We're going to deal with this persistent bastard for the last time." Ansil stated. Erza could have sworn she heard some level of fear in the man's voice but only just. Her best guess was that the one known as Ansil and this newer voice must have some kind of history with each other. After what felt like an eternity, she heard the same voice roar an incantation that sounded forboding and harsh, as if it were more demonic than human and the tone of the voice changing to match the harshness.

"**Molag vol tor shiin**!" The speech was followed by a series of explosions, then more screams of pain. More dust was kicked up and started to settle in Erza's cell, each blast accompanied by that same unearthly green glow that came with the first bone jarring blast.

The shocks subsided and the dust began to settle, collecting in the armored mage's hair. She got to her feet and looked out the window and was met with a shocking image. The vast majority of the buildings in the fortress were broken and splintered, covered with blood mangled bodies littering the grounds. Several of the buildings were on fire, but instead of the warm glow of reds, oranges and yellows, her eyes were met by many shades of green. The "flames" were definitely magic induced, but she had never even heard of green flames, let alone had an idea as to how some one could even make them. Her eyes drifted to what looked to be the center of the compound. Where they had managed to subdue her several hours earlier. She saw Ansil turned away from her, torch still in hand, facing a newcomer in a black hooded cloak ten yards away from him. Erza could barely see any clear features, but there was one thing that burned into her mind. His eyes. Silver, almost glowing under a brow that screamed with murderous intent. She could tell the two men were talking but she couldn't hear well enough to glean anything from it. All she could do was watch helplessly and hope the man with silver eyes would spring her from the cell and chains confining her.

In a flash the silver eyed man had his hands around Ansil's throat as the torch fell to the ground, still burning on the blood stained snow. The gray haired leader didn't even have time to send a spell at the attacker. Erza noticed those eyes, still burning with hatred. They had shifted from that dazzling silver to a menacing green glow, the same shade as the flames still burning across the shattered buildings and walls.

"Mercy!" Ansil shouted between throttles, his body struggling for air.

"Mercy? Mercy!? You have the nerve to beg for mercy after what you did!? No. You will burn! **Ru****u****lag nja gabor!**"

There it was again. Those painful sounding incantations. Erza noticed a magic circle appear between Ansil and the other man's free hand. Before the redhead knew what was going on, Ansil's body was consumed in flames. She could see him writhing and heard screams coming from him that made her skin crawl. Nothing was left of him. His body and crumbled into ash. All she could do was stare in shock. The last man standing picked up the torch and looked up towards the only building left undamaged and made eye contact with Erza, the glow ebbing from the stranger's. She recoiled slightly as he waved and made his way to the lone building. Erza started to hear footsteps making their way acroos the creaking floorboards leading to her cell. A figure appeared in the threshold, holding the same torch that Ansil had dropped not three minutes earlier.

The man lowered his hood and Erza could see his features clearly now. He was easily a head and then some taller than her. Black hair. Wavy, windswept, and almost untamed fell from the top of his head, framing his face and ending at his shoulders. A cross shaped scar under his right eye. His jaw square and pronounced with a tuft of hair on his chin. All seemingly normal features except for one thing. Those piercing silver eyes. They had softened now, no longer harboring homicidal intent but instead holding something akin to contempt meeting concern. This almost could not have been the same person. Silence filled the room, neither of the two breaking eye contact. The man cleared his throat.

"Hmm. I thought I saw someone in here. Now, tell me. Who are you?" He asked, his voice now smooth, almost calming.

"My name is Erza Scarlet. A Fairy Tail mage." She replied, unsure of what to make of the situation.

The man raised an eyebrow. He had heard of the woman before him. A memory of the Grand Magic Games final event flashed across his mind. A slight smile appeared on his face as he ran a hand through his hair, stopping at the back of his head to scratch it. The last thread holding the cloak together broke and it fell to the ground revealing the rest of his body. Fairly muscular with a scar running along the width of his left forearm. Olive green pants tucked into a pair of boots that ended halfway up his calf. The white shirt that was under the cloak had rips and tears in it from the fighting earlier. Erza's eyes drifted to something that was just visible on his rib cage. An emerald green skull with what looked like a fracture running from the jaw up to the top of it. A guild mark. A look of confusion took over the redhead's face.

"Who are you and what is the name of your guild?" Erza asked while trying to hide the apprehension in her voice. She hadn't been gone long enough for her master to send out a search party had she? No. Even if Fairy Tail's master did, he would not have asked another guild for help.

"I'm Kazro Fhlosten. The last surviving member of Shattered Grin." He answered. Erza could see a flash of anger in his expression as he finished the last sentence. He must have had a grudge against whoever these people in the fortress were.

Erza opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by Kazro.

"Whatever is on your mind right now can wait. Let me get you out of here and back to an inn. If that shifty eyed son of a bitch was able to capture you, then he probably used some kind of toxin that saps all the energy out of you." He was now speaking with something resembling a sense of urgency, but without the hints of fearfulness that tend to come with it.

Green flames appeared on his hand as he melted away the bars to the woman's cell, then melting away the cuffs that were around her wrist. She couldn't help but marvel at how much control he had over the flames. The same ones that had obliterated most of the compound and turned several people to ash didn't feel hot or uncomfortable. They seemed warm, almost like they were meant for healing instead of destruction. She didn't have time to continue the thought as Kazro picked her up and hoisted her onto his shoulder in a variation of a fireman's carry. He carried her outside and stopped as he inhaled the cool air. The flames had finally stopped and all that remained were a few smoldering heaps of wreckage. Heavy snowfall had already covered the bodies that weren't piles of ash.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked with a touch of indignation creeping into her voice.

"Relax, Scarlet. With whatever is still running through your system, you won't be able to walk till morning at the earliest. We're going back to Clover. It's the nearest town that has a roof you can sleep under without worrying about your neck being slit."

Erza gulped and was unable to tell if he was exaggerating, but given her stretch of luck since leaving Magnolia she decided not to argue. She heard Kazro mutter an incantation. This one wasn't filled with anger or pain. It almost sounded normal but it still wasn't in a language she understood. Something caught her eye as she looked down. Hints of green flames were dancing across Kazro's legs and boot clad feet. A movement spell. It had to have been. Her answer came shortly afterward. Kazro started running at a breakneck pace, careful not to drive his shoulder up into the gut of the scarlet haired woman he was carrying. Erza began to feel sleep grab at her. Despite being carried by a stranger and her mind still racing from what she had just seen, it couldn't be fought off and everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Erza woke up in a room that looked strangely like the one she had stayed in the night before, noticing minor differences in the paintings that were hung on the walls. She raised her hand up to rub her head and could tell in the light from the overcast sky filtering through the curtains there were wrappings covering bruises on her wrists.

'So I guess wasn't a dream after all.' She thought to herself.

Her thoughts drifted back to the outpost. A group of bandits, possibly a dark guild judging by the cloaks most of them wore, were holed up there. She had been knocked out by some potion they injected into her neck. Underhanded, even for a dark guild. Her mind forwarded to the events that transpired between that one man and the entire group of bandits. What stuck out most were his eyes. They were full of hatred and his voice was full of anger as he cut a swath of destruction in his wake. There couldn't be any doubt. He had killed all of them, including their leader. The scarlet haired mage's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a sharp inhale come from the other side of the room. Her eyes found the source; a figure slumped over in a chair with a simple blanket covering everything except for legs and a head covered in long black hair.

"Kazro?" Erza called out to the figure, half expecting something resembling a response.

The figure shifted, pushed the blanket off and stood. After stretching and pushing his hair out of his face, Kazro faced the woman lying in bed.

"Morning, Erza. How are your wrists feeling?"

"Fine, thank you. Are we back in Clover?" She asked, still unsure of how she ended up in a bed without her armor.

"Yep. You were out cold about ten minutes before we got to the room. Your breastplate is over there." He replied as he walked to the bathroom and motioned to a table on the far side of the room from Erza.

When the requip mage heard the bathroom door shut and water being drawn, she made her way to the table. The plate had been placed there neatly and it had a sheen to it that wasn't there the previous day. It must have been polished. It wasn't quite as good as if she had done it herself, but the gesture was appreciated nonetheless. She couldn't help but chuckle softly at how helpless she was during yesterday's events and was unable to recall the last time she was in that kind of situation.

Kazro lowered himself into the bath and let out a grunt as the almost scalding water swallowed his body. He could feel the water lap against the cuts and bruises and popped his neck. A sigh escaped his mouth as he threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. The man had to admit he caught slightly off-guard by the previous night's events. Ansil was walking trash that didn't deserve to live but Kazro didn't think the now dead man would take a prisoner, let alone leave someone alive.

"Bastard must have been trying to go for some kind of ransom. Nah. He would have done much worse, especially to a woman." He thought out loud. "But still. What the hell was she even doing there? Whatever. They're dead now and that leaves just a small handful of them."

Tracking them down was going to be a pain. It had taken Kazro three months to get even a hint of the trail Ansil and his cadre had left and another four to finally pin down where they were hiding. To make matters worse, a good deal of the people he relied on for information had left Fiore, most of them seeking their fortunes in Bosco or Minstrel. He sighed again, this time one of frustration. Kazro finished cleaning himself, climbed out of the tub and dried himself. A grimace crossed his face. He had left a clean shirt laying on the back of the chair he slept in. He had been with women before but that didn't stop him from trying to maintain some level of modesty when he wasn't training or in combat. He walked out of the bathroom, still drying his long hair. Erza was pulled out of her daydream, looked Kazro over and let her eyes repeatedly coming back to the same thing: the mark she had barely caught a glimpse of the previous night.

"So you're able to walk, huh? Tub's open if you need it." Kazro's words interrupted her train of thought as they made eye contact.

No anger in his eyes. No hatred. No hint that last night he had singlehandedly annihilated a fortress crawling with bandits in under fifteen minutes. Nothing even indicating that he was a magic user, let alone belonged to a guild except for the green fractured skull covering a large part of his ribcage but a level of quiet intensity was still there. Erza smiled slightly, nodded then made her way into the bathroom. The dust that had been kicked up the previous night was still in her thick red hair and the sooner it was washed out, the better.

When Erza exited the bathroom, Kazro was nowhere in the room. She quickly got dressed, donning the newly shined breastplate then made her way downstairs and found the long haired man sitting at the inn's bar, conversing with the barkeep while swirling a glass of whiskey. She couldn't make out what they were saying but it was obvious they had at least met some time in the past. The barkeep leaned in close to Kazro and said something no one but the two of them could hear. What ever was said quickly made the two of them chuckle. As if on cue, Kazro finished his drink, placed some money on the bar then stood up and faced Erza.

"You ready to head out? I'll walk you to the train station." Kazro offered with a friendly smile tugging at his face.

"Yes. And thank you. That would be nice." Erza replied while returning the smile.

The two exited the inn and made their way to the train station in the middle of Clover, taking in the sights and sounds as they walked along the rows of shops and stalls. They passed through a quieter part of town covered with a canopy made up of maple and cherry trees with some leaves still holding on, as if trying to deny the coming of the colder months ahead. The sound of train horns and bells could be heard ahead and steadily grew louder as they approached the station. Neither of them talked much aside from pointing out something they found interesting along their path.

"So where is you guildhall located?" Kazro asked in an attempt to break an almost uncomfortable silence.

"Magnolia. It's a couple hours away from here if there aren't any delays." Erza answered.

"Magnolia, huh? I haven't been there in several years. I think Twilight Ogre was the main guild in town at the time." The black haired man stated while rubbing the stubble on his chin. "I could be wrong though." He added.

"They were, but we regained our footing after winning the games. The townspeople were even nice enough to let us have our old building back." She stated with a reflective smile. "You should stop by next time in the area. I'm sure the master would like to meet you."

Kazro chuckled, not out of sarcasm but genuine humor. Erza caught a glance of him out of the side of her peripheral vision. He was smiling again and his eyes had softened considerably. This didn't even seem like the same man she had met the previous night. He almost seemed happy or content at the very least.

"So where are you going to go next?" The red haired beauty inquired with a look of restrained curiosity playing across her face.

"Honestly, I don't know. I'm trying to find the rest of the group those mages from last night belonged to but it took me damn near nine months to track down Ansil and his subordinates. Who knows. Maybe I'll get lucky and run into some more in a week." Kazro replied while furrowing his brow and sighing. "But yeah, sure. I'll try to stop by if I end up near Magnolia in the future." He added. The concern and frustration that were on his face had vanished.

When they arrived at the station, they entered and Kazro bought two tickets. One for Erza to Magnolia and the other for Kazro to Crocus. He still had an information broker in the capital city and he wasn't about to try losing any ground to the rest of the men he was pursuing. The two of them waited around an hour for Erza's train to arrive. When she had boarded, Kazro offered a wave and a smile which was returned by the armored redhead. When Erza's train had left, Kazro's smile was instead replaced by a look of grim determination. He would find the rest of Twilight Flare and he would turn all of them into ash and scatter the remains to the wind. He exhaled, pulled a cigarette out of a pants pocket and smoked it while he waited for his train to Crocus.

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Erza pushed open the large doors leading into the Fairy Tail guildhall. It was a lot emptier than usual. No pink haired dragon slayer, or any of the other dragon slayers for that matter. No blonde celestial mage and no half-clothed ice mage. She reasoned that they must have all been out getting something to eat or hanging out at the celestial mage's apartment. She was instead greeted by an attractive woman with sapphire eyes, thick ghostly white hair landing at the small of her back, pale skin and a deep crimson dress that showed off a great deal of her curves including her ample chest.

"Welcome back, Erza. How did the job go?" She greeted with a warm smile.

"It went, Mira." Erza replied then looked around the hall. "Is Master in his office?"

"Mmhmm. He just got back from his meeting with the council about an hour ago." Mira replied while still holding her friendly expression.

Erza nodded then made her way up the steps leading to the guild master's office, taking in the uncharacteristically empty guildhall as she ascended to the second floor of the building. She reached the open door leading into the office of Makarov Dreyar and knocked on the threshold before entering. Erza then walked in and sat in a simple wooden chair opposite a desk from a short old man who had long since lost any hair covering the top of his head. The man placed whatever papers he was perusing on the desk and greeted the redhead with a smile that would match the warmth any parent would give.

"Welcome back, Erza. That took a lot shorter than I thought it would, even for you." He stated as the loving smile lingered on his face. So, tell me. How did you finish it so quickly?"

"I ran into a bit of a problem while I was out." Erza said as the smile faded from the man's face and was replaced by a raised eyebrow.

Erza gave Master Makarov a full and thorough report on what had happened on the job she had just returned from, including being subdued and waking up chained to a wall in a cell. Upon hearing this part of the story, a flash of anger appeared and disappeared from the face of the Fairy Tail master. Erza noticed the change of expression, but continued knowing that Makarov would wait to hear every little detail before coming to any kind of conclusion. Erza was greeted with a line of questions after finishing her verbal report.

"This man that wiped out the bandits in the compound. Did he have a guild mark on him?" Makarov asked.

"Yes."

"It was a skull with fractures running over it."

Makarov's brow furrowed and mixture of worry and disbelief made itself apparent. He had thought the guild owning that mark had been completely wiped out almost two months before the Grand Magic Games. The Fairy Tail master knew it was an independent guild and details about that type of guild were few and far between, but this particular one had drawn passing notice of even the most powerful legal guilds in Fiore and some of the neighboring countries. Enough of a notice that even the Council in Era was mulling over making an attempt to keep tabs on the guild.

"Did he tell you the name of his guild?" Makarov continued.

"I think he said it was called 'Shattered Grin.'" Erza answered with a questioning look in his eyes. Something she had said was worrying the master but had no idea what it was.

Upon hearing this, Makarov raised a hand to his face and rubbed his eyes. That last statement from the scarlet haired mage confirmed it. It explained everything related to the incident near Clover, but mostly it explained how one man was able to completely destroy anyone and anything that was there in a matter of mere minutes.

"What do you know of Shattered Grin?" Makarov asked, his usual jovial disposition replaced by one of sternness that he rarely used. He was answered by Erza shaking her head. "Simply put," He continued. "Shattered Grin was one the most powerful guilds up until shortly after we returned from Tenrou Island."

Makarov explained the extent of Shattered Grin's power and how they had risen to notoriety. During the course of the conversation Erza learned that the now defunct guild made a name for itself by weeding out cults dedicated to Zeref and going toe to toe, and winning, against some of the strongest dark guilds in Fiore. What caught Erza almost completely off-guard, however, were the rumors surrounding the number of members in the guild. According to Makarov, that number was twenty-five to thirty members at most. The conversation finished and Erza saw herself out of Makarov's office and went back downstairs to sit at a table and order a slice of strawberry cake. She had almost as many questions racing around her mind but she couldn't quite put them into words. There was one thing that was solidified in her mind, though. The last surviving member of Shattered Grin was definitely one of the strongest mages she had ever met and a twinge of fear clawed at her mind as she thought about whatever group that managed to draw his ire.

**A/N: Ok so this chapter kind of irritated me sense I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted it to flow and end but I'm pretty sure I'll have most of it sorted out in the third chapter because I have a solid idea of how I want it to progress. Thanks for reading and sorry for how short this chapter is.**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This chapter turned out a lot better than the previous one and I found a groove with it. The next coming chapters will start to break off into an altered version of canon so bear with me if there are any rough patches. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

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><p>Four months have passed since Erza had returned from that particular mission near Clover. She usually wasn't one to worry but her mind would drift back to the night she had been captured by a group of bandits and then released by a man with almost glowing silver eyes. The nature of this man's magic was still somewhat of a mystery to her. She knew that it was some kind of fire magic but had never even heard of a type that produces green flames or relies on such angry sounding incantations.<p>

During the course of the last few months she had gone on additional jobs, some of them were solo and could easily be done in three days or less. She would invite her usual teammates for the more extended jobs, not because she couldn't handle it, but because she enjoyed the company of the people she considered to be among her closest friends. They had just returned from a mission near the Worth Woodsea that involved clearing out a group of forest vulcans that had grown too aggressive and were threatening the few human settlements in the area. Upon returning to Fairy Tail, Erza and her companions took a table in the dining hall and began to discuss the job.

"I was hoping they would have put up more of a fight. Those vulcans were barely even a challenge." Came a complaint from a man of average height, spiky pink hair and a toned athletic build. His hands were on his head adding to the boredom in his voice.

"Either way, you didn't need to go that far overboard. You destroyed three homes, Natsu. You better be glad you didn't accidentally hurt anybody." Quipped a blonde with deep brown eyes, a voluptuous figure and barely enough clothing to cover it all.

"Lucy is right. A bystander could have easily been hurt or worse. You really need to work on your control." Erza added sternly, her eyes narrowing slightly at the pink haried man.

"It wouldn't have gotten to that point if Gray actually bothered to help instead of stripping." Natsu retorted with a bored expression still on his face.

The boredom didn't last long as he was greeted with a punch to the side of the head by a man with raven hair, no shirt, and a fist encased in ice. The two men quickly started bickering, throwing insults back and forth before breaking into a full blown fist fight between not only them but several other members of Fairy Tail who happened to be standing by. The noise from the escalating brawl was grating on Erza's nerves. A lot of things had been doing that lately and she had been noticing several strange events since she had met Kazro. Most notably was the rise in dark guild activity all across Fiore. She couldn't help but think that the last job had been related to it somehow but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. The brawl surrounding her had now begun to swallow up the entire guild as the din continued to grow and was escalating to the point of several people beginning to use magic to gain an upper hand. The fight was broken up by a bolt of lightning hitting the two who started it causing everyone in the hall to stop what they were doing and face the doors leading outside to Magnolia.

"You assholes are making too much noise." Spoke a giant of a man with spiked blonde hair, a lightning shaped scar crossing his right eye, baggy olive green pants and a sleeveless black shirt that showed off his heavily muscled arms.

"Welcome back, Laxus." The man was greeted by Mira who had somehow avoided the mayhem that had swalloed the entire guildhall not even a minute ago. "How did your job go?"

"Fine. They were barely able to put of a fight. Where's gramps?" He responded without the usual irritation in his voice.

Mira motioned upstairs indicating that the guildmaster was in his office and Laxus disappeared up the stairs into the second floor. Erza could not get a clear view of his face but she had known him long enough to know something was bothering him. He had just returned from a job given directly by the council to suppress a group of slavers but Erza could sense the slightest bit of worry in his voice from what little he did say to Mira before going up to Makarov's office. Whatever it was, something had spooked the lightning mage and that rarely happened, especially after the display he put on at the Grand Magic Games where he had beaten one of the Wizard Saints in the final event. Erza's attention shifted back to the slice of cake in front of her that had somehow avoided any of the fallout from the fight.

The sun had long since vanished over the horizon and the inside of the guildhall was thriving. The majority of Fairy Tail's members were in town after having finished various jobs and were telling stories from their time spent apart from one another, cracking jokes and just enjoying the company of one another. Laxus, Erza, Natsu and several others were sitting at one of the many tables littering the hall and were trading tales and poking fun at each other lightheartedly while they ate their meals. Erza was absentmindedly twirling long strands of spaghetti with her fork, barely paying attention to the conversations around her. Her mind had continuously drifted back to her job near clover, what Master Makarov had said when she returned and the tinge of concern in Laxus' voice when he got back to the guild earlier in the day. She didn't know why, but she could feel that something was going to happen. The only question she had about it was if it would be good or bad.

As if on cue, she could feel two strong spikes in magic power somewhere off in the distance but it was close to Magnolia. Very close. Erza wasn't the only one to feel this. Natsu and Laxus both stopped their conversation their ears perked up. Natsu's eyes lit up for a second.

"Two powers that large. They both feel as strong as Gildarts. Do you think he's one of them?" Asked the pink haired man.

"I doubt it, Natsu. We would have heard bells and the town would have started to shift around to make a path for him." Laxus replied as his brow furrowed and eyes narrowed.

Erza's eyes widened slightly. One of the spikes felt very similar to something she had felt several months earlier but it was dramatically stronger. A look of worry spread across her face. Powers that large and this close to Magnolia could easily wipe out the town if they got any closer. Makarov was sitting on the bar and set his drink down beside him. He had felt the surges as well but was able to hide his concern from the rest of those around him. He hopped down and made his way to the table where Erza, Laxus and Natsu were sitting.

"Laxus. I want you and Erza to find out whatever the hell that was. Stay hidden and avoid a fight as much as you can. I don't need you taking any unnecessary risks." Makarov ordered.

"Why not me, gramps?" Asked Natsu who was clearly hoping for a break from the boredom he had been feeling all day.

"Because I said so, brat!" Makarov ended the conversation then and there as Natsu slumped back down in his chair. He hated being left out of anything that could lead to a good fight, but he wouldn't dare disobey Makarov when he could tell something was eating away at the guild master.

Laxus and Erza rose from their seats and made their way outside to be greeted by a rumble of thunder in the distance. They would have to be quick if they wanted to avoid a storm that was beginning to approach from the west. They looked around to try and pinpoint where exactly they had felt the two sharp rises in magic power and their gazes immediately shifted to the forest east of town. The two mages immediately broke into a sprint and made it to the edge of town where they started moving as silently as they could, minds still focused on trying to keep track of the two powers they were sent to investigate.

As they drew closer to the sources, the two Fairy Tale mages could faintly hear incantations being yelled over the storm which had overtaken them. The skies opened up and heavy rain began to bombard not only Magnolia, but the forests surrounding the small town. Laxus and Erza reached a clearing in the forest made up of trees that had recently fallen. Jagged stumps mixed with the charred remains of what used to be some of the larger trees nearby. Erza looked at the destruction in front of her and noticed one of the downed trees was still smoldering with green embers. Laxus noticed what had caught his companion's attention and raised an eyebrow.

"Green fire? That's not something you see every day." He said, almost a whisper.

Their attention on the oddity was interrupted by the sounds of several shockwaves and bone chilling roar almost directly overhead. The two looked up to see what had caused the noise and instinctively sought refuge behind one of the larger stumps that still allowed them to have a line of sight on the skies above. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and strobed several times, illuminating two figures hovering in the air almost fifty feet from each other. One of the figures looked normal enough. Laxus was barely able to make out any distinctive features but could tell it was a man with medium length blonde hair that had streaks of red. The man was wearing the tattered remains of a blue button up shirt with one of the sleeves ripped off and a large chunk of the material was missing from near his right ribcage, showing a gash that looked like it had been hastily sealed with some kind of magic. The other figure in the air opposite the blonde man almost cause both Laxus and Erza to freeze in place. Another charge of electricity flashed brilliantly against the clouds giving the two another look at what they thought was a demon. It possessed wild shoulder length hair that emerald green with streaks of blood caked into it, dark gray skin with tiger like stripes that matched its hair, large bat-like wings protruded from its back with a blood red membrane and two horns on its head that swept forwards. At the ends of both arms were what looked like clawed hands, the tips of which were glowing with an almost ghostly shade of pale green.

The two figures in the sky lunged at each other and closed the distance between them instanly then begain going blow for blow in the air with each one generating a flash of light and a shockwave of sound and air. Both of the combatants seemed to be completely oblivious to the storm raging above. Over the sound of thunder and the almost deafening blasts from the two making contact, Erza could hear a vaguely familiar voice shouting incantations in a strange language that sounded twisted and almost painful. She looked over at Laxus who had hardened his face and kept his eyes on the battle above.

"Holy shit. These two are monsters. They could probably give Gildarts a run for his money." Laxus said out loud, half to himself and half to Erza as if trying to confirm that the redhead was seeing the same thing he was.

When Erza's attention turned back to the two figures fighting she gasped. The demonic looking figure had the blonde man's neck in its left hand and what looked like a ball of green fire pulsing in its right as the two were heading for the ground. The two locked in combat collided with the ground thirty feet from the two mages from Fairy Tail, throwing up mud, rocks and the splintered remains of the trees that had not completely burned away. What followed next was a voice that Erza recognized instantly.

"**Molag zul amur**!"

It was Kazro. It had to have been. Before Erza and Laxus could react to the voice, a pillar of brilliant green fire shot through the air and punched a gaping hole into the storm clouds overhead. The hole in the clouds sealed shut and the rain resumed falling as if trying to silence any challengers to the storm's wrath. Erza and Laxus cautiously made their way to the edge of the newly formed crater when the column of fire had dispersed and were greeted by a sight that startled the two of them. In the crater was the demonic figure standing over smoldering remains of a human skeleton that still sporadically pulsed with a green color. The demon looked up at the sky, tensed up and let out a roar that began to sound much more human than what Erza and Laxus had heard just moments before. The figure began to glow brightly and looked as if it was fading away, its wings and horns turning into ash. When the glow faded, all that remained in the crater was a man on all fours and a skeleton that looked as if it had just been unearthed. The pulsing green energy had since faded since the demon disappeared.

The man had three parallel scars running across his back, tattered pants ending just past his knees. His body was covered in cuts, bruises and several wounds that were dripping with blood and a mark on his ribcage that Erza instantly recognized. An emerald green skull covered in fractures. In an instant, Erza bounded over the lip of the crater and slid down the wall, paying little attention to the small fragments of rock bouncing off her armor that were still falling from the sky. Laxus had little time to react before the redhead was at the side of the man still in the crater and a hint of worry could be heard in his voice.

"Be careful, Erza. His power might have died down but he's still dangerous." He said in hopes to get his partner away from whatever it was in the crater, himself not being sure if the man was even human.

"I'll be fine." She replied and her attention shifted to the bleeding man doubled over in front of her. "Kazro? Is that you?"

The man shifted his weight into a sitting position and looked towards the redhead who was now beside him. Through a curtain of hair that was matted from rain and caked with blood, Erza saw a pale glow subside from what should have been the man's eyes that were replaced with a stark shade of silver. It definitely was Kazro, the same man who had saved Erza from a group of bandits several months earlier but his skin was flushed and his breathing was ragged.

He greeted her with a smile, then placed a hand over one of his bleeding wounds while muttering a spell. A glow appeared between his hand and the wound and the bleeding stopped, causing Kazro to let out a small hiss.

"The hell are you doing here?" He hoarsely asked before falling over and passing out from a mixture of exhaustion and blood loss.

"Oh shit. Laxus, we need to get him out of here now!" She exclaimed while grabbing Kazro's arm and not even waiting on a reply from the man sent with her.

Laxus nodded and grabbed Kazro's other arm, hoisting the man off the ground with his feet just barely dragging against the ground. It had taken Erza and Laxus almost fifteen minutes to reach the clearing in the East Forest but since they were carrying a man on the verge of death, time had now become their enemy. The only thing on their minds now was making it back to the guild in time and hoping that their resident healer hadn't gone to her room in the dormitory.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kazro shifted and groaned. His eyes opened to find himself in a room he had never been in before. He was the sole occupant in what looked to be an infirmary based on the presence of other beds and curtains hanging from the ceiling. Slowly, he adjusted to the dim morning light peeking in through the window behind his bed. He couldn't turn to look but he could tell the skies were overcast and cloudy. His silver orbs scanned the room once again. Slumped over with crossed arms in a simple wooden chair to his right was a scarlet haired mage wearing a simple sleeveless button-up shirt and he could clearly see a blue mark resembling a fairy on her left arm. Her lower body was covered by a heavy blanket that barely reached the floor and left her feet bare on the cold wood.

'Erza?' He thought to himself before looking around again. 'Just where the fuck am I?'

He reached up to rub his head and noticed that his left arm was heavily bandaged and he found the same material wrapping around over his eyes. He tried shifting into a sitting position only to be met by a stabbing sensation and a sharp hiss of pain. Several ribs had been broken in that fight in the forest. He swung his feet off the side of the bed and noticed he was wearing a pair of black shorts that weren't his with bandages covering his right leg from the knee down. He placed his feet on the floor and gingerly rose from the bed, trying not to wake the slumbering redhead beside him. He limped across the infirmary to the door, opening and closing it silently behind him.

On the other side, he found himself on an indoor balcony of sorts that wrapped around all sides of the building before descending down a staircase behind a bar. He leaned on the railing and took in the sight. Heavy wooden tables were scattered throughout the large room, some of them were occupied by varying numbers of people who were engaged in conversation with the sporadic sounds of laughter reaching up to him. His eyes trailed to the far side of the hall just above a bar and he saw a red banner with a white crest that looked identical to the one he saw on Erza's arm.

'So this must be Fairy Tail. Was I really this close to Magnolia?' He asked himself as his brow furrowed.

His thoughts were interrupted by the approaching sound of footsteps. He slowly turned and rested his eyes on a dwarf of a man with gray hair on the sides of his head and pronounced eyebrows. The expression on the approaching man's face reminded him of a grandfather, stern but warm and loving.

"I see you're finally awake. My name is Makarov and I am the master of Fairy Tail." The man greeted warmly. "Follow me, please." He added with a wave.

Kazro nodded and followed Makarov across the indoor balcony and was led into a room with a large mahogany desk with matching wooden chairs on either side of it. Makarov took a seat behind the desk and motioned for Kazro to do the same. Kazro complied and eased into one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk, letting out a small grunt as he tried to ignore the pain shooting up his right leg. After a moment of awkward silence between the two, Makarov's face hardened and changed the entire mood of the room.

"Just who the hell are you and why did you kill someone in the East Forest?"


	4. Chapter 4

The words from the Fairy Tail master resonated in Kazro's head. The kind and jovial look that he had initially been greeted with had vanished, instead replaced by inquisition and something that could easily boil over into unrestrained anger if the wrong answer were given. A sigh escaped the bandaged man. He wasn't seeking a fight. He just wanted to get whatever this was over with and go off to the remains of what used to be his guild hall.

"My name is Kazro Fhlosten. Member of the guild Shattered Grin."

Makarov looked Kazro over once and chuckled inwardly. He knew this man was not easily intimidated even with being in no condition to fight. His thoughts quickly harkened back to the report Erza had given him several months prior. The guild master hadn't asked the knightess for the name of the stranger that saved her, but the physical description he had been given was a perfect match for the man who had been dragged in to the guild while near the brink of death. But that guild's name. It stuck out to him like a sore thumb. He almost didn't want to believe the rumors he had been hearing at the regular meetings for area guild masters. Whispers about a man hell bent on destroying one particular dark guild had been making their rounds. The dark guild had scattered to the far corners of Fiore but the members were tracked down and eliminated with a sloppy, yet brutal efficiency.

'So this is the one who saved Erza and several of the other masters worried.' Makarov's face softened slightly as he thought to himself before speaking. "Two of my mages saw you kill a man in the East Forest last night. Why?"

"He was the leader and last member of the dark guild Twilight Flare."

Makarov raised an eyebrow at this response. He had heard other masters refer to that particular guild, and it was always in hushed tones. Almost everything about them was a secret and not even the Council was able to determine anything definite about them. All they had known was that it was not part of the Balam Alliance and could easily go toe to toe with the strongest legal guilds in the country. A question began to claw at the back of his throat trying to get out and into the open.

"How is that relevant?" The words were out of Makarov's mouth before he could catch them. All he could do was wait for an answer to the question he wanted to phrase better.

"Vengeance."

The one word answer came with a change in Kazro's expression from emotionless to trying to hide twinges of an anger that was all too familiar to the Fairy Tail master.

"Care to elaborate?" Makarov asked as he noticed the shift in mood.

Kazro shifted gingerly in his chair and sighed as he got more comfortable. This elaboration was going to take him a good while to explain if he gave the long version and he wanted to avoid that as much as possible for now as he felt pangs of hunger grip at his stomach. He pushed the growing desire for food to the side and hoped that this little interrogation session would take no longer than it needed. He closed his eyes and rubbed them while he quickly mulled over how to put things as simply as possible.

"Twilight Flare was responsible for the destruction of my home and the deaths of my brothers and sisters in arms. Their deaths demanded the blood of anyone and everyone involved."

The answer had taken Makarov off guard. Not because of the reason, but the inflection behind it. He could tell that the emotions of the man before him were still raw and exposed. The cadence in which the answer had been delivered almost betrayed the mixture of anger and grief that continued to swirl behind silver eyes. Makarov decided that he wasn't going to press that subject any further given that most of his questions to the man had essentially been answered. One more question lingered in his mind and it was probably the most important question he was going to ask Kazro.

"Did you ever harm an innocent person?"

Kazro blinked. That was one question he did not expect to hear. Especially coming from the man responsible for a guild that ends up having to refund most of their reward money to repair collateral damage. Silver eyes searched the old man's face. They didn't find a hint of foreboding, anger or disdain. Instead he saw something akin to concern. It almost seemed like worry but without the desperation or panic that comes with it. Kazro merely shook his head. To him, it was one thing to blot out the sun and rain hellfire upon those he called enemies but he made damn sure that he wouldn't bring harm to people who had nothing to do with the deaths of the people closest to him. Unsure if the man questioning him had seen the head shake, he answered verbally.

"Never."

Another one word response. Makarov's black eyes scanned Kazro's face. The truth had been told. The stern facade finally left the old guild master's face and was replaced by his normal jovial and caring temperament. Kazro sensed the change in the mood and raised an eyebrow as he was unsure as to what the next thing would be that came out of the guild master's mouth. Makarov slid out of the chair and on to the ground and made his way around the desk and to the door of his office, motioning for Kazro to follow him. Kazro stood with a grunt and a silent curse as he braced himself on the back of the chair for stability. Once his balance had settled, he limped through the threshold and followed Makarov to the inside balcony with the old man looking through the bannisters at the lower floor. Several people had begun filing in to the guildhall and were sitting at tables scattered around with the sounds of conversations filling the empty space and rising up to meet the two men looking down. One of the mages at a full table near the center of the room caught Kazro's attention. A shiny breastplate with the Heart-Kreuz emblem adorning the front, two pauldrons and gauntlets laying on the table beside an empty plate, and brilliant red hair. A slight smile worked its way onto his face.

Makarov noticed the man beside him eying the redhead on the lower floor. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"She told me about you and what you had done after she had gotten back from Clover. You have my thanks for getting her out of there in one piece. She's also one of the people that dragged you back here."

Kazro looked down at the old man beside him. He heard the parent-like concern and full hearted gratitude. He could tell the master felt like a father to many of the people in the guild and less like what one would normally think of a guild master as. It was just like his old home. A sense of longing found its way into Kazro's heart but was interrupted by Makarov asking another question.

"Since it seems like your quest for vengeance has come to an end, where will you go when you're healed?"

For the first time, Kazro couldn't think of anything to say. A haze had come over him since he had returned to the wreckage of what used to be his home and he could focus only on avenging his family. He had fully expected to die during the fight with Twilight Flare's leader, if not then soon after. The possibility of having a life afterward hadn't even crossed his mind, let alone received any serious thought.

"To be honest, I have no idea."

Makarov felt Kazro's eyes on him and turn to descend the stairs leading to the first floor. He motioned again for Kazro to follow and kept his pace as he heard the uneven footsteps behind him. When they reached the ground floor, Makarov continued to lead Kazro to the bar and hopped up onto it then sat facing rest of the hall. Kazro settled onto a stool one spot down from the Fairy Tail, facing towards the hall as well as he slowly leaned back and propped his arms on the bar behind him. Silver eyes scanned the large, open room but repeatedly came back to the armored mage with scarlet hair. His thoughts began to turn to the issue of thanking her. His thoughts were interrupted when Makarov broke the silence between them.

"I hope you know that you're more than welcome to join us. We won't be able to replace what you lost but we can give you a new place to call home." He said with a warming smile.

The offer echoed in Kazro's head and he began to think. His quest for blood had ended and he could finally lay the memories and souls of Shattered Grin to rest. He shifted gingerly in the stool as he mulled over the offer extended to him. He threw back the last of the ale in front of him and turned his head towards an expectant Makarov.

"Give me a little time on that. There's something that I still have to do."

Makarov simply nodded at the response. He knew the silver-eyed man beside him still had a lot weighing on his mind and he wasn't about to try rushing a decision. He waved over at Mira for two more mugs of ale and the two spent the remainder of the afternoon in almost complete silence, with the quiet interrupted by the occasional brawl breaking out between guild members. Most of them had been started by a man of average height with spiky pink hair and a scaled white scarf coiled around his neck.

* * *

><p>A week had passed since Kazro had eliminated the last member of Twilight Flare. His cuts and bruises had almost completely healed and his broken bones had been aided in the healing process by a thick blue liquid kept in heavy stock by Fairy Tail. Kazro looked out of the window of his train compartment and let his mind wander as farmland rushed by, broken up by the occasional thickets of trees and hedgerows. Most of his day had been spent in the compartment on the way to Shirotsume.<p>

Once he had arrived, he grabbed his backpack and made his way off the train. He began to make his way towards the foothills on the outskirts of town and paused only to reach into his bag and pull out a cigarette and light it. As the smoke filled his lungs he pulled his dark gray cloak tighter around him and looked around the road he was taking out of town. Ruts from passing wagons and caravans had worn deep into the dirt and water had puddled in the deepest parts. The outlines of mountains could be seen over the hills in front of him and the snowy peaks commanded respect against the clear blue sky. The sun may have been shining brightly but the last vestiges of winter still clung tightly to the air. The tree cover had gradually become thicker as he made his way to what used to be known to him as home. He dragged on the last of his cigarette and snuffed it before throwing the remains of it to the side of the road.

A small gap appeared in the thick brush to his left. He looked around. He was certain that he wasn't being followed but he was always in the habit of checking his surroundings before he started making his way down a familiar path that was in the early stages of becoming overgrown. He frowned at the trail then quickly wiped his face of emotions. After twenty minutes, he reached the ruins of what had been a small castle on top of a hill. A huge gash in one of the outer walls greeted him. The stone making up the wall had been shattered and blown inwards creating a hole large enough for a forest vulacn to pass through without having to duck. The main gate had been blown down as well, splinters of rotting wood still clung in places to the stone frame.

Kazro reached the center of the courtyard inside the castle walls and knelt in front of a simple cross-shaped marker made of stone that glowed with an unearthly aura as the sun began to sink beyond the horizon to the west.

"Brothers, o brothers. They know now what they've done. Their lesson is finished. I've rained down the sun." The words echoed softly on the few remaining walls surrounding the courtyard.

In the time that Kazro had been gone, scavengers had begun to pick the castle apart in their searches for anything and everything that could be salvaged and sold off for a profit. He winced at the thought of people trampling on the resting grounds for those he had called family and a twinge of anger nipped at his mind. The only thing that they hadn't been able to even move was the marker placed before him. He looked up from the marker. On one of the few walls that had stood defiant against time and looters hung a small, stained, and tattered white banner with a red frill that was no worse for wear. In the center of the banner was the emblem Kazro had associated most with comfort, family and home. The mark of his guild.

"Rest now in eternity and guide me to my fate." These words were met with silence as the steady breeze that had been present through the day dwindled into stillness.

Kazro moved in silence to the wall holding the banner and pulled it down. He carefully folded the banner and placed it into his bag. If time were to claim his family's resting place then he would at least preserve his guild's standard as best as he could. A weak smile crept onto his face as he began to reminisce on the life he once knew. He hoisted the pack onto his back, closed his eyes, then inhaled deeply.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open. He carefully removed the pack from his shoulders and readied a fireball in his hands that rapidly grew in intensity and the emerald glow began illuminating the ruins forgotten by daylight. Someone had been following but had either hung a good way back or had been able to suppress their magic power till it was almost nothing. His eyes scanned the courtyard and turned to the gash in the outer wall.

Without thinking twice or calling out a warning, he hurled the glowing ball of fire through the hole in an effort to flush out whoever was hiding. Another orb of energy quickly appeared in his offhand, ready to be flung as soon as the other was on its way. The one projectile he had loosed made contact with the thick treeline and exploded, sending a shower of splinters further into the surrounding forest and back towards the derelict remains.

He shouted towards the wall. "Come out where I can see you!" He paused, then added "Slowly."

By this point the lower halves of his arms were engulfed in brilliant green flames. Kazro could feel his blood heating up as it pulsed through his veins. He forced the flames down into his palms and lobbed one of them up into the air where it hovered and grew in size and luminosity. An eerie gleam shrouded the ruins as it flickered sporadically in the still air. Kazro crouched and readied himself to spring towards where he could feel a faint glimmer of magic energy. He issued one more warning, this time not trying to hide any of his indignation and contempt.

The moon had just begun to make itself known when a short figure with a slight hunch appeared in the wall's opening. Kazro came out of his crouch and allowed the fire that had been gathering in his hands to flicker out and fade. His eyes rested on the same man who had offered him a new home just barely a week ago. The short figure was cast into a silhouette by the explosion of energy far behind him.

"What are you doing here, Makarov?" Some of the contempt was still present in Kazro's voice.

"I'm just out for a walk." Makarov's voice trailed off as his gaze shifted to the maker behind Kazro. "You loved them dearly, didn't you?"

"Yes. With all I had in me. They were the few people I would trust with my life." Kazro smiled pensively as some of the warm memories came to him. His expression was greeted by Makarov with a grandfatherly chuckle.

The more Makarov thought about it, the more he could see shades of the people he lovingly called brats. Like the rest of them, Kazro was bearing scars. They might not fade, but the pain that was associated with their coming will ebb in time. Before the aging guild master stood a man who had seen more than his fair share of blood, tears, and sorrow. He had bent slightly but sprang back in defiance, galvanized by something he treated as a holy mission.

Kazro broke the silence that had descended upon them. "That offer you made last week. About joining Fairy Tail. Does it still stand?"

Makarov responded with a nod then spoke. "Of course. But first there's a question I have for you. I have never seen flames burn that way, let alone that color. You could obviously give most of my brats a run for their money but what I want to know is this: what kind of fire magic is that?"

"Most people who know about it refer to it as Exorcism Magic."

Makarov started to stroke his chin at this response. "And what about the other people who know about it?"

"The people who know the real nature of it call it by its true name: Devil Slayer Magic."

Makarov chuckled again and his eyes softened. He had heard rumors of that type of magic but was never able to find anything concrete about it. He had known Kazro was some type of fire mage based off the report Erza and Laxus had made when they found him in the East Forest, but he didn't know if the type was suffixed by anything. The old man looked up at the sky, past the glowing ball Kazro had created and up at the moon that had made itself fully known by now. Makarov turned around and waved for Kazro to follow him. The exorcist complied and slung his pack onto his shoulders over his cloak.

"The next train to Magnolia leaves soon so we'd better hurry." Makarov stated as an unseen grin appeared on his face.

Kazro took one more look at the ruined courtyard before committing fully to the short trek back to Shirotsume. His eyes rested squarely on the marker in the center, still retaining its muted glow under the brightness radiating down from the moon. He muttered an incantation and in response the aura surrounding the memorial grew in intensity then began pulsing as the glow began to slowly fade away until it was no more. With the memories of his fallen brothers and sisters now laid to rest, he could finally move onto a new chapter in his life. A single tear had formed in his right eye and was wiped away. All his sorrow could now begin to recede like the glow that had just faded. He turned his back to the ruins to begin catching up to Makarov. His steps almost felt lighter as he got further down the road back to town.

* * *

><p>AN: Okay so this will be the last little introductory chapter. Thanks for reading it so far and let me know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

Kazro shifted his weight in front of the request board and brushed his hair out of his face and behind his ear. He gazed at the papers littering the wall in front of him and sighed. Most of the jobs posted were dealing with simple retrievals no more than a day's walk away from Magnolia. He almost turned away to go sit at the bar when one of the many sheets of paper caught his eye. He carefully removed the job posting from the board and studied it for a moment before smirking slightly and making his way to Mira to get her to sign off on it. He approached the white haired woman behind the bar and placed the request on the bar in front of her.

"So you finally found something?" Mira asked with a smile. Her brow furrowed and she continued "That one's been on the board for about a month now. I honestly don't know why nobody's picked it up yet." Her eyes finally drifted down to the reward that was offered. It was cheap, barely enough to cover the expenses it would incur.

"Well it shouldn't be too hard to finish. I know that area fairly well and I've usually had good luck when I've been through there." Kazro replied.

"Well either way, I'll let Master know you're taking this job. You'll have to tell Erza first, though." Mira's trademark smile was still on her face as she spoke.

Kazro recoiled slightly at Mira's statement. He searched her face in an effort to find out if she was kidding. She gave no tells or changed her usual tone. Kazro sighed and scanned the guildhall for the redhead. She had been sitting at a table with a blonde-haired girl with keys hanging off of her hip and a spiky pink-haired man who was making a lot more noise than was necessary. He looked back at Mira with confusion.

"Is there any particular why I need to tell her?" He asked as he motioned his head towards the redhead on the other side of the hall.

"It's one of Master's rules that a new member's first job has to be supervised by an S-class mage." The same smile was still on her face. "But don't worry. She'll only be observing and won't intervene unless she absolutely has to."

Kazro let out a sigh of exasperation. He wasn't used to traveling or even working with someone else. He had grown used to being alone for the two years spent tracking down and eliminating the members of Twilight Flare. Something began clawing at his thoughts, begging to be let in to his inner dialog. He had been wanting to get to know his new guildmates better in the week since he had taken up Makarov's offer of joining, but he had been wanting to introduce himself in a climate outside of work. That idea was thrown out the window when he learned that most of the members were out on jobs and he had been spending most of his time tracking down a place to live. He shook off his disappointment and made his way to where Erza had been sitting. The noise being created by the pink haired man grew louder as he neared. He pulled a chair up to the table and sat down at the end of it, effectively putting an end to whatever conversation they were having.

"I was wondering where you had gone a couple weeks ago." Erza was the first to break the silence and her deep brown eyes trailed to the side of Kazro's neck where she noticed parts of a black mark peeking over the collar of his shirt. "And it looks like you decided to join us as well." She added with a smile.

Kazro nodded. He turned his head to his left and made eye contact with the pink haired man who looked as if he was trying to peer into the silver-eyed man's soul. Kazro glanced back at Erza with an inquisitive look on his face and then back at the pinkette.

"So you're the new guy I heard gramps talking about the other day. I'm Natsu." He said with a grin that showed off his sharp canines. He motioned to a blue cat sleeping on the table beside a plate covered in fish bones. "That's Happy."

Kazro gave a token smile to Natsu and shook his hand. His attention immediately shifted back to Erza and he placed the job on the table in front of the armored redhead.

"Mira said something about you having to supervise me on my first job." He said flatly.

"That is correct." She responded with a half smile while looking at the job details before continuing. "This looks simple enough. Go into some ruins and retrieve an artifact, right?"

"Almost. I'll explain on the way to the train station."

"When do we leave?"

"Now. Pack light. We'll need to be able to move fast." Kazro stated as he rose from the chair and putting it back where it belonged.

Erza nodded and rose as well, grabbing a small backpack sitting beside her at the table and following Kazro out of the guild. The walk to the train station was mostly silent and almost completely mirrored the time the two had walked through Clover several months earlier. Erza glanced at the black haired man walking a little in front of her. His boots were barely making any sound on the cobbled roads. She noticed that he was tense about something but she had no idea what the reason was. She finally decided to break the silence.

"So what is it that needed to be explained?" She inquired.

"The job calls for the artifact to be destroyed as soon as it's recovered." He replied. Erza could barely hear the tension in his voice.

"Destroyed? Why?"

Kazro glanced over his shoulder at the knightess and noted the clear confusion playing across her face. He pulled out the job details and handed it to Erza. She took it and examined it closely. Her eyes widened slightly when she reached the last paragraph containing the contact's information. It was a job from the Fiore branch of the Magic Council.

"The Council? Why would they request the destruction of something belonging to an ancient civilization?" Her confusion had only deepened when she finished reading the paper again.

"It's simple. The artifact needs to be destroyed because it can disrupt the balance of nature and flow of time."

"It makes no sense but if that's what the job calls for the so be it." She was starting to get somewhat annoyed at Kazro talking in circles and she was used to people coming straight out with information whenever she asked.

The knightess sighed and handed the creased sheet of paper back to Kazro, who then folded it neatly before putting it in a shirt pocket. The two made the rest of the way to the train station in relative silence. Once they arrived, Kazro bought the two tickets needed and joined Erza on a simple wooden bench. When he looked over at her, he could tell there were still traces of bewilderment on her face.

"Something's still eating at you isn't it?" He asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Yes. I still don't know what the artifact can even do." She replied.

"I've heard rumors about it when I was roaming around the country. Legend holds that it can resurrect the dead."

Erza's eyes widened in shock. As far as she knew, there was nothing that could fully bring the dead back to life. She knew one of the dragon slayers in Fairy Tail could commune with the spirits of the dead, but it was just that; spirits. She scrunched her brow and pinched the bridge of her nose with a gauntlet covered hand. She couldn't help but think that a job like this should have been classified as an S-class job.

"Couldn't they have just asked for it to be brought to them for testing?" She asked, letting some hints of worry in her voice.

"Even if that were the case, it still needs to be destroyed. Something of that nature cannot be allowed to exist in any way, shape, or form." He said as he rested his hands on top of his head. "Besides, this is one of the few times the Council is asking for something I actually agree with."

Erza blinked at the last statement. Kazro had made no attempt to hide his disdain. She looked him over. His eyes had hardened and his mouth had twisted into a slight scowl. His jaw had also clenched slightly, moving the cross-shaped scar on his cheek ever so slightly. The first thought that entered the Knightess' mind was that the man beside her must have had some sort of dealings with the Council in the past and that they had most certainly soured his feelings towards them. She quickly pushed the thought aside. Mages from independent guilds tended to not think highly of the council to begin with but that scowl indicated something else. It felt as if the man flat out despised the council.

"So where exactly are we going?" She broke the silence that had just started to settle.

"A small outcropping of Nirvit ruins in the Worth Woodsea. If the information is right, we should be in and out after a couple days, tops." He replied while pulling a cigarette out of his shirt pocket and using his magic to light it.

Kazro inhaled sharply then exhaled and watched as the smoke was lazily buffeted around by the breeze passing through the station terminal. As he was finishing his cigarette, a train pulled into the station and blared its horn. The two of them winced at the same time as the noise reverberated across the platform. They rose from the bench and made their way aboard, picking the first empty cabin they could find. Not long after they had settled into the cabin, they were joined by the same blonde and pink-haired man from the guildhall. Kazro remained silent as the pinkette sat next to Erza and the blonde shuffled in beside Kazro.

The blonde was the first to speak. "I can't believe we almost missed the train. You really need to just get over it, Natsu." She exclaimed with exasperation.

Kazro raised an eyebrow at the two that just entered the cabin. He glanced over at Natsu and saw a face full of dread. He looked over at the blonde and almost felt dirty for looking at her. She was wearing a pair of shorts that barely covered anything and a tank top that stopped at her midriff and looked a couple sizes too small. Kazro leaned his head up against the window. He glanced over at Erza as if he were asking if this was all normal and the redhead merely chuckled.

The blonde then turned to Kazro. "Hi, I'm Lucy. I didn't get a chance to introduce myself back at the guild." She proclaimed with a beaming smile.

"Kazro." He smiled weakly as he spoke.

The train lurched forward into motion causing its occupants to shift with it. Natsu began complaining about motion sickness almost immediately and was met by a metal clad fist to his stomach, knocking him out cold. The blonde beside Kazro yawned and rested her head against the partition that separated the cabin from the rest of the car and nodded off soon after. Kazro looked out the window and observed the scenery blazing past the window. In between thickets of trees were rolling hills covered in swaths of golden wheat that had just started to make itself known to the world. He snuck a glimpse at the redhead across from him. Her eyes were locked on the landscape as light danced around the crimson strands framing her face.

"I never got the chance to thank you for saving me from those bandits." Erza stared at Kazro as she made the comment.

"From what I can remember, you dragged me into Magnolia a couple weeks ago, so I guess we're even." He flashed a smile.

Erza was about to open her mouth again but stopped. The smile she had just seen was a genuine one. It wasn't one of the several she had seen Kazro use on the few occasions she saw him talking to somebody else in the guild. Most of the others she had seen were the kind of smile that hid annoyance. She finally opened her mouth again, but this time a question followed.

"Those bandits. It seemed like you knew them in some way. How?"

Kazro's smile faded almost instantly and was replaced by an expression that showed a mixture of emotions. Erza waited intently for an answer, the whole time analyzing his face for some kind of change in mood.

"That conversation is for another time, Erza." Kazro snapped then paused. "Just, not now. Maybe some other time." He tried to force a smile but the subject was still a sore one for him.

'The nerve of this man.' Erza thought with a scowl. 'Looks like Master was right about him. He seems like he isn't afraid of much, if anything at all.' She then chuckled to herself.

The two mages that were still awake shifted their eyes back to the horizon that began to bleed into night with the setting of the sun. It was replaced soon after by the moon as it begun to assume its mantle in the night sky. Kazro felt his eyes getting heavy and tried suppressing a yawn. He rubbed his eyes and looked out the window again. The rolling hills were bathed in the soft glow radiating from the full moon through the patchy clouds still hanging in the sky. Sleep's full assault finally brought down Kazro and he felt himself drift off into unconsciousness as the light reflecting off the moon filled the cabin.

* * *

><p>"<em>Burn!"<em>

Kazro was jolted awake from his sleep by a voice that had been haunting his dreams for a while. His eyes darted around the train cabin that was softly illuminated by a green flame covering his fist. His eyes did a once over again and he let the flame die out. The moon was lower in the sky now and the early rays of morning were starting to gnaw away at night. His eyes adjusted to the soft light pouring in and he glanced at the three other bodies in the cabin. Sometime during the night Lucy and Erza switched places. The blonde and the pinkette were leaning against one another and both had slight smiles on their faces. He felt a weight shift on his right side and looked over to see Erza resting her head on his upper arm with the rest of her body curled up on the seat.

The train slowed and lurched to a stop, gently jostling its occupants awake. The other three mages in the cabin woke and groggily wiped their eyes and began to stretch. Kazro was the first to rise and slung his pack over his shoulder and waited for Erza to do the same. She followed suit and the two made their way to the platform, leaving Natsu and Lucy behind. Kazro inhaled the cool morning air sharply and rested his hands on his head. The Knightess and the Exorcist began walking at a steady pace out of the station and into the sleeping town of Cypress.

"Do you know where we need to go?" Erza asked in between yawns.

"It's about a two hour walk from here to the ruins we need to get to. The swamp surrounding the ruins should be enough to have kept the scavengers from picking it clean." He replied flatly.

Erza raised an eyebrow at him. She had traveled through swamps in the past but it was not really something that she enjoyed doing. She looked ahead at their path and chuckled. The man leading the way seemed to be phased by little, if anything short of an apocalypse. The sun finally broke over the horizon, giving way to a brilliant mix of oranges and yellows. The two mages veered onto an overgrown path branching off from the main road and into the outskirts of the swamp holding the target of their job.

After what seemed like an eternity of making their way through the unchecked growth and ponds of stagnant water, the two mages finally reached what appeared to be their destination. A pyramid like structure rose from the earth and stood defiantly against the elements. Parts of the stonework had been eroded away or broken off from the ravages of time. The main entrance stood agape, leading into the darkness within the structure.

A slight grin began to tug at Kazro's face. He had been in a handful of structures like this before and had always marveled at the inlaid carvings and workmanship that had gone into their making.

A chuckle escaped from Erza. "I think this is the first time I've seen you smile."

Another one came from Kazro. "I found my way into several of these when I was hunting down a dark guild and a handful of their subordinates. The ancient civilizations are far more advanced than you would think. Most of them were able to erect monuments that still stand to this day and they had a high affinity towards bending magic to their will."

A small ball of fire leapt from his hand and onto a torch he had pulled out of his pack. He made a silencing motion to the redhead as he took point to lead the way. The two entered the vestibule and quietly delved further into the ruins. Kazro had an idea as to what would be waiting further in and had no desire to disturb anything that could trigger any of the traps that its previous occupants had left behind.


	6. Chapter 6

The long hallway Kazro and Erza had been traversing came to an end and opened up into a large multilevel cavern. The two approached the edge of the floor they were on and looked down. Several levels down stood a stone pedestal bathed in light from outside with a metallic cube resting on top of it. Kazro looked at the clumn of light filtering into the chamber and extinguished his torch. A couple hours had passed since him and Erza had entered the ruins but he had no idea of telling exactly how many. He looked over the edge again and frowned. It was too far down to jump without the risk of breaking any bones.

He turned back to Erza with a sigh. "We'll have to find another way down. And if this place is similar to other ruins near here it'll take us a while. Those Nirvit were always too damn proud of their stonework."

"Nirvit? How can you tell?" Erza asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Kazro walked past her and motioned for the redhead to follow. He didn't look back as he spoke and his voice echoed softly off the walls. "For starters, it's the location and the style of the engravings in the walls. Also, they had a tendency to create things that no mortal should ever control. I've heard rumors of some kind of emotional control device that was found near here but I'm pretty sure it was destroyed by a group of mages some years back."

Erza cringed slightly. "It was an alliance of legal guilds against Oracion Seis."

"Oracion Seis, huh? A handful of dark guilds tried taking their place in the Baram Alliance soon after they were disbanded." Kazro nonchalantly stated.

"I never heard about any of that. What happened to them?"

"Me and two other mages. We also mopped up the remains of Grimoire Heart after they got their asses handed to them on some island in the middle of the ocean."

Erza could sense small traces of pride in Kazro's voice as he spoke. The fights Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart had almost killed her and everyone else involved and she shuddered slightly as the memories of those two dark guilds surfaced. She quickly shoved those memories aside and brought her focus back to the task at hand. Her focus shifted to Kazro again. She caught a glimpse of a contented smile on his face as he craned his neck around to look at the engravings that weren't covered by moss.

The two mages soon found themselves at the bottom floor of the chamber and were able to finally get a full view of the pedestal. It stood at waist height and a stone serpent snaked it's way in a spiral from the floor to the top. On the top of the pedestal, rested the artifact that needed to be destroyed. It was still bathed in the light that poured in from the opening in the ceiling. Kazro approached it with his boots plodding softly against the stone floor. He picked up the artifact and was surprised by how light it was. A metal cube no bigger than his fist, intricately engraved and inlaid with sapphires, rubies and emeralds. Erza approached the silver-eyed man and stared in wonder at the object in his right hand.

Kazro let out a soft whistle began to think out loud. "All these years and it's still here. How?"

His question was soon answered by a series of stone slabs falling to the ground, revealing a small army of mummified corpses that stepped into view of the two mages. One of them stepped forth, closer to Kazro and Erza than the others and began addressing them in a gutteral language that the redhead could not understand. Her eyes widened slightly in shock at the sight before her. She had never seen something remotely close to this in her time as a wizard. Her confusion deepened slightly when she heard a chuckle coming from Kazro.

"So that's how." Kazro looked over his should at Erza and continued. "Get ready. These must be the guardians."

Before Erza could react Kazro's fist had become engulfed in flames and he had launched himself towards the undead that stood in front of them. Erza quickly followed suit and summoned a pair of blades to her hands and began cutting down the surging army that laid claim to the ruins. The two mages cut a swath of mangled body parts throughout the chamber and within minutes they were the only ones left standing. Neither of them had broken a sweat but could hear rumblings coming from corners of the ruins that were still shrouded in darkness. Their work was not quite done yet.

"How do they just keep on coming?" Erza asked in exasperation.

"Might have something to do with the relic." Kazro answered flatly.

He looked at the cube once more in an attempt to find a weak spot in it. He turned it over quickly in his hands and found an indention in one of the six sides. He paused and got a closer look at it. Parts of the metal latticework had been chipped away at some point in the past. He held his index finger near the dent and focused his magic into it. Cracks began to appear on the rest of the device and it began to softly glow with the shade of green that matched Kazro's flames. The Exorcist focused more of his magic into the cube and it finally shattered, sending small pieces of shrapnel flying within a small radius of where the cube had been. With the cube shattered, all that remained was to finish off the remnants of undead still advancing.

"Enough of this. By fire be purged! **Rulag mol tor viir!**" As Kazro finished the incantation a torrent of flames erupted from his mouth, turning the remaining guardians into ash in a dazzling display of emerald destruction.

The rumbling that had been reverberating throughout the ruins had ceased as soon as the relic was shattered and an eerie quiet had settled in the chamber. The stillness was broken by a resounding crash of parts of the structure beginning to cave in on itself. Erza and Kazro quickly exchanged glances and began running to the exit, dodging falling debris when they could and blasting their way through the rest.

They reached the outside world and were greeted by the sun still hanging high in the air. The entrance to the ruins crumbled to the ground shortly after the two mages had made it to the safety in the swamp they had trudged through several hours earlier. Their breathing was ragged as they tried to catch their wind again and looked back at the mass of stones that had just barely come down on top of them.

The sound of slow clapping caught their attention and the Knight and the Exorcist were greeted by a man with sunken amber eyes, a bald head and lithe build. The newcomer approached them, still clapping and had no traces of dirt on his black suit and red tie despite having to trudge through the swamp. Kazro narrowed his eyes and stepped between the suited man and Erza. The man stopped twenty feet from the two Fairy Tail mages and folded his arms over his chest and let a sly grin play across his face.

"I just had to see for myself. To think that the infamous Scourge of Fiore would have joined a legal guild." The man spoke with a tone that made Erza's skin crawl and she could feel sweat bead up on her neck when the man's gaze shifted to her. "And it's Fairy Tail, no less. The Council would be interested in hearing this." He ended his musing with a slight chuckle.

"You've got a lot of fucking nerve to show your face around me, n'wah." Kazro growled.

"Come now, Fhlosten. Is that any way to talk to an old friend of yours?" The bald man was still grinning.

"Shut up, Torrin. Why the hell are you even here?" Kazro spat through a sneer.

The man known as Torrin reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a plain, white envelope. A magic circle appeared in Torrin's hand and the envelope floated lazily over to Kazro who then opened it to inspect the contents. It was filled almost to its breaking point with the payment for destroying the relic. A chuckle could be heard coming from his throat.

"Oh? When did they demote you to simple courier?" Kazro asked snidely.

"Enough of the snark, Exorcist." Torrin's demeanor changed to a more serious tone. "That two year spree you went on sent several of the more dangerous dark guilds in the country into hiding, so the Council has given me more of the day to day tasks."

Kazro scoffed and made no effort to hide the fact that he was annoyed. "Are you done? If so, then we're leaving."

Kazro turned his back to Torrin and walked past Erza, motioning for her to follow. A scowl had found Kazro's face when he realized he might have to fill the redhead in about some of the inner workings of the magic underworld. They began to trudge through the swamp back to the road that led to Cyprus, occasionally swatting or incinerating a mosquito that got too close.

During the trek back to Cyprus several questions kept pawing at Erza's mind. She had no idea who this Torrin guy was but she caught a glimpse of a pendant that only Council representatives possess so it was clear he was associated in some way. It was also clear that Kazro knew him and the two obviously had a bad history with each other. She was about to open her mouth to ask Kazro about him but stopped when she remembered that Fairy Tail's newest member had a bad habit of dodging or flat out ignoring questions about his past.

'I doubt even Master Makarov was able to get much information out of him.' She thought to herself.

They sun had started to descend and fade from the sky as they finally arrived at the main road that would take them directly to Cyprus and hopefully a hotel. The sun didn't exactly beat down on them, but being in such close proximity to a very adept fire mage had left her soaked from the combination of having to fight off a legion of undead and the subsequent sprint to escape the collapsing ruins. That was another thing that held her curiosity. His magic. They were several paces apart but she could still feel traces of the heat radiating from him.

'What I saw against those guardians would put his strength on par with Natsu's, but he didn't even break a sweat. Then there was that time Laxus and I found him in the East Forest a month ago and for a while he seemed close to Gildarts' level.' She almost shuddered at the last thought. The last thing she needed was to be responsible for a man who could easily destroy

She finally decided to break the silence between herself and the silver-eyed man. "Kazro. Who was that guy waiting for us?"

"That deconstructed welp was Torrin. And the less you have to deal with him, the better." He didn't look back towards Erza as he spoke. "He's usually the one that posts jobs that involve taking out dark guilds that get careless and make the mistake of announcing their existence."

"So how do you know him?"

Kazro slowed down slightly to let the redhead catch up with him. He looked over at her and waited till she made eye contact before continuing. "He would come to us for the dark guilds that were either harder to find or more dangerous. Something they wouldn't risk sending to a legal guild."

"So they would send impossible missions to independent guilds?" She received a simple nod. "Why?"

Kazro cleared his throat and began reaching around in his backpack for something. "Liability. If a legal guild starts a war with a dark guild and loses, it makes the Council look bad and gives them the joy of having to explain it away to the rest of the guild masters. They'd also be partially responsible for any property damage. But if that same mission goes to an independent guild, they don't have that hassle and it's no skin off their backs if the job ends in failure. Even then, they'd still try to tie our hands up with their own set of rules."

"What kind of rules?" She was actually taken aback that she had even received an answer, let alone several in a row. The thought that Kazro might have been warming up to her began to worm its way into her head.

"The usual gamut of taking them alive and trying not to destroy half a city."

"And what if you couldn't?" Erza almost hesitated to ask this question but she had to know more.

"Like I said, no skin off their backs for loss of life or collateral damage." His eyes still held their usual intensity as he effectively ended the topic of their conversation.

Erza's gaze shifted to the horizon. The sun was setting to her right and cast streaks of brilliant pink and orange in the sky as they weaved in and out of the few puffy clouds that hung in the air. The town of Cyprus had begun to appear in between the tops of trees lining the main road and the blaring of horns could just barely be heard resonating from the train station in the center of town. The sound of a lighter opening, igniting, and closing interrupted the quiet that had settled over her and the fire mage and was quickly followed by the potent smell of smoldering tobacco. She glanced to her left to see Kazro exhaling a plume of smoke that lazily drifted into the air.

"You know that can kill you, right?" Erza began to playfully tease.

Kazro chuckled softly. "Not the first time I've been told something could kill me." A slight grin played across his face.

The chuckle and tone of his voice caught Erza off guard. She had seen him smile a handful of times when she had spotted him and Makarov talking, but they were more in the nature of remembrance and mixed with tinges of sadness. In the short time he had been in the guild, Erza really only saw him talk to the old master in depth and Wendy for the part she played in his recovery. Either way, she could tell that he kept his guard up to the same extent she had in the past. She wanted to know more about him but didn't want to spoil the comfortable atmosphere between her Kazro.

They walked into the terminal at the station and paid for their tickets and took their spots on a simple wooden bench near the platform. Kazro shifted in his spot and started to run back over the conversation and growled softly when he pictured the bald man's face. His brooding ceased when he noticed that two other people had joined him and Erza on the bench. It was the two mages that had shared a train cabin with on the way to Cyprus.

"I'm guessing the two of you have finished your job as well?" Erza addressed the two newcomers.

"Yep! Things are so much easier when somebody just needs a good beating." The pink-haired man exclaimed with a childish grin.

"Natsu, you ended up destroying most of what the rune knights asked you not to." The blonde sighed with exasperation.

"It's not my fault they were weak, Lucy. They should have been able to at least put up something resembling a fight." Natsu retorted.

Kazro looked over at the Dragon Slayer and Celestial Spirit mages. The two had a couple scrapes and bruises on their arms but nothing that would merit immediate medical attention. He noticed Lucy whispering something to Erza which was quickly followed by her shaking her head and laughing slightly. The two female mages then began whispering to each other and would stop every so often to steal glances at the two Slayer mages with them.

"So." Kazro's attention was grabbed by the pinkette who was now standing in front of him. "What kind of magic do you use?"

The blunt and straight forward question had caused Erza and Lucy to cease their hushed conversation and turn to the two men in their group. Lucy's brown eyes darted back and forth between the two fire mages and took in their expressions. Natsu's face held nothing but simple curiosity. For some reason, however, she was unable to get a read on Kazro's almost blank expression. Erza had turned to watch the conversation as well. She knew that Kazro was a fire mage of some type, but she had never seen or felt flames remotely similar to his.

Kazro sighed. He knew it was a matter of time before he would have to tell other people in the guild, aside from Makarov, about the nature of his magic but he was hoping that he would be able to dodge or dance around the question for a little longer. Erza, on the other hand, was hoping she would finally learn what his magic type really was.

"Fire Exorcism." Kazro answered flatly.

"Exor-what?" The response from Natsu caused Kazro to recoil slightly and he could hear a small giggle coming from the blonde.

"Exorcism, Natsu. It's a type of holy magic." Lucy stated.

Kazro's raised an eyebrow slightly at the blonde. "So you know of it?"

Lucy shook her head slightly. "I've read bits and pieces about it but from what I remember, it's used to fight against beings from the underworld."

"That's correct." Kazro affirmed the blonde.

"So you can use fire? What do your flames taste like?' Natsu asked with a glint in his eye.

The question was one that caught the Exorcist off guard. He had never been asked that, mainly because he had never fought against a being that was able to consume flames. Their conversation abruptly ended by the approaching rumble of the train set to ferry them back to Magnolia. The four Fairy Tail mages shuffled onto the train and into a private cabin and plopped down to the seat in a collection of sighs from the three that didn't suffer from motion induced sickness. Lucy and Natsu quickly fell asleep before the train had departed, leaving Kazro and Erza as the only two still awake.

"Kazro, there's something I've been wanting to know about you." Erza stated with a curious look.

"Hmm?" Kazro looked over at the redhead not knowing what she was about to ask.

"When you use magic, you speak in a language that's harsh and abrasive. It almost sounds demonic, as if the voice doesn't even belong to you. Why is that?"

Kazro sighed audibly. He had a feeling that he was going to be asked that question eventually. It was not a matter of if, but when. He paused as he tried to figure out the right way of wording his response without revealing too much about it. These people may be his new family, but he was still wary of others out of a mixture of habit and instinct. An instinct for survival that had been honed since he was barely a teenager.

"It's a dialect of the ancient language spoken in Acherus, the realm of the dead." He answered.

The answer Erza had received had only just agitated her curiosity. She glanced over at Kazro again only to find him with his head against the wall and his eyes closed. There were still several questions that she wanted to ask him about his magic. She could tell that it was powerful and it shared some qualities of the Dragon Slayers that she knew as well as the few God Slayers that she had seen fight. She closed her eyes and brushed an armored hand through her hair. If this man will not answer her directly, then perhaps the guild master would be able to provide some answers. Either way, her next conversation with Makarov would have to wait till she got back to the guildhall in the morning. She then rested her head and watched as the twilight bathed landscape passed by until her eyelids grew too heavy to keep open.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, guys. Sorry this chapter took so long. It was a mix of laziness and trying to figure out how what direction(s) I wanted to take it. I'm planning on throwing some more character development in with the next chapter, but I have no idea when I'll get around to starting on it. Let me know what you thought about this shit-tier fanfic.<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

Orange light from the early morning sun spilled into the medium sized room in Fairy Tail's guildhall. It was a room with which Erza was fairly familiar. The office of the guild's oldest member and master, Makarov Dreyar. The natural light almost made it unnecessary for the aging master to use a lamp but his eyes demanded otherwise. The red haired knight locked eyes with the man who was the closest thing to a father she had ever known. She took a breath through her nose and reveled in the smell of coffee and old texts with hints of cedar coming from the shelves. She shifted into a more comfortable position in the simple wooden chair that held her. On the opposite side of the desk littered with documents said Makarov as he pored over the latest news from the Council in between sips of coffee.

"So, Erza. How did the job with our newest member go?" Makarov asked. Hints of grogginess were still in his voice despite being on his third cup of coffee in three hours.

"Very well. There wasn't a single setback." She replied with satisfaction.

"And since you've seen his magic more than anyone else here, how much control does he have and how strong do you think he is?"

Erza raised a hand to her chin as she thought about the best way to answer the question. Control didn't to seem to be an issue at all. During the skirmish against the legion of undead guardians in the ruins she had been able to watch Kazro in combat without her view being obscured. He had been able to control his flames to an extent that would have impressed even the strongest of mages in the guild, Erza included. The question of power was a completely different matter. It had looked like Kazro was not even trying. All of his movements and attacks were effortless. It had seemed more like he was dancing instead of fighting.

"His control was impressive. I haven't seen a level of mastery like that in some time." She replied.

"And his strength?"

Erza shook her head before answering. "Hard to say. I don't think I saw anything close to the full extent of his power, but there is something I was able to learn about his magic."

"And what would that be?" Makarov made little effort to hide his desire to know more about the newest member of his guild.

"I think it shares similar traits with Dragon Slayer magic. On a handful of occasions I saw him manipulate fire in the same way as Natsu."

Makarov took a sip of coffee and brought a hand up to rub his temple. He loved the fire mage Erza referenced, but the last thing he needed was another mage that will cause the same amount of property damage. He took a moment to examine the scarlet haired mage's face. As she continued to recount events from the job with Kazro, her words and tone were indicating that she was more than satisfied with the skills of the newest addition to the family.

"As long as he doesn't destroy half of a town while he's out on a job, then that shouldn't be an issue." Makarov said with a chuckle. "So where is he now?"

"After he split the money with me and checked in with Mira, he left for his place. He said he would be back in a few hours if there's anything you need to talk to him about." She replied.

"Nah. I think the only time I'll need him in this room is if he wrecks the better part of a town." Another chuckle escaped the aged master.

A smile played across Erza's lips as she rose from the chair and saw herself out of Makarov's office. She paused outside the door and leaned against the bannister, looking down at the rest of the guild hall. Natsu and Lucy had just shuffled in together and were sitting at one of the tables dotting the floor and were joined by a girl with ocean blue hair and a shirtless man with black hair and a small scar over one of his eyes.

'Looks like Gray and Wendy are back from that job in Crocus.' She said inwardly.

Erza stepped back from the railing and made her way down to where the rest of her team was sitting and promptly waved for Mira to bring her something to eat as she took a seat. Her mind started to drift back to the mission with Kazro, namely the man he referred to as Torrin. She could tell that the two of them obviously had some kind of history, but it could not have been a good one based on how the Exorcist acted. What shocked her the most was how Kazro acted towards a person who supposedly represented the Magic Council. Not even the most unruly of Fairy Tail's members would speak that way to a Countil representative.

"Something on your mind, Erza?" The question was enough to jerk the redhead out of her thoughts as she looked over to the source of the question to see Lucy looking at her with mild concern on her face.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." She said with a smile. As she finished, a plate of food was placed in front of her by the always smiling Mira who was back at the bar before Erza could voice her thanks.

"Anyways, I still want to fight him." Natsu blurted as if he were oblivious to the Knight who had just joined the table.

"Natsu, we've been over this before. You can't just fight him for no reason. Besides, I don't think he's even in the building." Lucy chided.

Natsu's sulking was quickly interrupted by the arrival of a large tray with enough food to feed the entire table. The group ate in relative silence, looking up from their plates to wave at the occasional guildmate that entered the main hall. Some of the mages that entered the hall were still rubbing their eyes groggily as they entered despite the air outside still having enough of a chill to snap most people awake.

Erza was the first to finish and decided to break the quiet that had settled with the arrival of food. "So how was Crocus?"

Wendy was the first to answer. "It was horrible. That director made us rehearse the same scene over a hundred times and wouldn't let us take any breaks."

"I still don't see how he's able to sneak those 'jobs' of his in with the rest of them." Gray snorted.

"Don't tell me. It was the same guy that thanks people at the weirdest times." Lucy guessed without needing to hear the answer.

"The one in the same." The raven haired man grumbled in between sips of coffee.

Erza could not help but giggle at the interchange. It was not the first time someone from Fairy Tail had to go on a request from that theater director and the jobs had turned into something of a running joke that would usually include some kind of betting pool on whether the theater would be destroyed. As it stood, the stage would never survive the first show and nearby properties had been damaged on several occasions. She looked across the table to see Natsu nudge Lucy and jerk his head slightly to the bar. She followed the direction of his gaze and motion and saw Kazro talking idly with Mirajane.

"Ooh, is that Erza's new boyfriend?" The question from a furry blue cat was enough to send a small fit of subdued laughter to the rest of the table's occupants.

"It's not like that, Happy." Erza flashed a glare that paralyzed the cat with fear.

"Well, he isn't exactly bad looking." Lucy teased with a wink that seemed to dig playfully at the Dragon Slayer beside her.

"What the hell, Luce?" Natsu faked jealousy but seemed to have a general idea of what the blonde was trying to do. "I thought you only had eyes for me."

"But there's nothing that says I can't look." She stuck her tongue out at the pinkette as she finished this sentence and it had its intended effect: causing a slight hue of red to appear on Erza's cheeks.

Kazro had just taken a seat at the bar when he could hear bits and pieces of a conversation that had gotten rather loud. He looked over and found the source. The Knight who had to accompany him on his first job, a blue haired girl barely in her teens, a raven haired man whose name he could barely remember and the two mages he could have sworn were a couple. He grabbed one of the menus on the bar and tried to pop his neck but to no avail. The train he had ridden on the previous night was not the worst, but they always left something to be desired as far as comfort for sleeping. His sore neck was proof enough of that.

The table holding Team Natsu had finally calmed down to a normal volume. The ham-fisted attempt at getting a reaction out of Erza had apparently worked to some extent. There were still slight hints of pink on her cheeks. She looked towards the bar again and got a good look at who had been the subject of their conversation. Kazro's hair was lazily pulled into a relatively loose bun at the back of his head with a handful of stray locks, leaving the Fairy Tail mark on his neck fully exposed. His red and white striped t-shirt left just enough room for him to move around without it constricting him, but showed off his well developed arms. Her eyes trailed back up again. The tuft of hair that had been covering his chin was gone and left his squared jaw exposed to the elements.

"Stare any harder and you'll burn a hole through him." Lucy whispered while elbowing Erza in the ribcage.

Before the scarlet haired mage could react to Lucy's teasing, Natsu sprang over the table with his fist covered in his signature orange and red flames while issuing his challenge to the mage at the bar with his back turned.

"Oi, Kazro! Fight me!"

Natsu's punch was close to connecting with its intended target when his momentum was stopped by a hand latching onto his fist, extinguishing the flames and leaving the witnesses in varying levels of disbelief. Kazro turned his head to look at the semi-bewildered Dragon Slayer. The look on the Exorcist's face was one that reflected amusement more than anything else.

"Come on, Salamander. This early in the morning?" Kazro said while failing to stifle a yawn.

"Well, yeah." Natsu answered as he pulled his now unlit fist away from Kazro.

"Tell you what. We'll meet out in the East Forest at noon. Then we can have that little throw down you seem to want so badly." Kazro stated as a slight glint could be seen appearing in his eye.

"Sounds good to me." The pinkette responded with a flash of his canines.

Kazro stood up from the bar and made his way across the hall to the doors leading to the outside. As he traversed the hall, he looked over his shoulder and briefly made eye contact with Erza who was still trying to process what she had just seen. The Exorcist smirked at the redhead slightly and exited the hall, pulling the doors shut behind him.

Erza, on the other hand, was utterly confused. She had no idea what had made the man who had been so shut off and reclusive do a complete turn and agree to a showdown with one of Fairy Tail's most rambunctious members. She immediately threw out the idea that it was for a show of strength. It could not have been bonding either. She looked up to see Natsu approaching the table, beaming from ear to ear like a child on the morning of the winter holidays.

"Natsu, what are you even thinking?" Lucy asked without even trying to hide her frustration with the fire mage.

Natsu simply shrugged at the blonde and earned a collection of exasperated groans from her and the rest of the table's occupants. Their feelings of bewilderment and frustration towards the pink haired mage were quickly replaced by urges of curiosity. Erza was the only one who had even seen his magic, but her instincts were telling her that it was only a small fraction of what he could do. The bandits near clover were nowhere near the level of the majority of Fairy Tail's members and the undead guardians from the job she accompanied Kazro on were at a similar level of strength. All she could do at this point was scratch her chin and look back and forth from the doors leading outside and Natsu, who was beginning to work himself up over the fight waiting in the very near future.

"What's on your mind, Erza?"

Erza looked at the source of the question and shook her head with a slight smile. "It's nothing, Gray. I'm just curious to see how this little sparring match goes."

"So, how do you think the new guy will do against Natsu?" The question from the ice mage caused the Knightess to furrow her brow in thought.

"It's hard to say. If anything, it will be interesting." She stated in a matter of fact manner.

Gray shot Erza a sidelong glance before diving back into the food on his plate that was starting to get cold. Erza took the last few bites that remained before rising to her feet and walking across the hall to the staircase leading to the upper floors. The pace she had taken made her current intentions clear. The master needed to at least hear about the almost impromptu match that was just a couple hours from starting.

* * *

><p>A great deal of the guild's members who happened to be in town were gathered on one side of a clearing in the East Forest. An area just over half the size of the arena used in the Grand Magic Games was buzzing with excitement from the collection of mages. The ones that were not talking about what they would see were getting odds and placing bets with the guild's heaviest drinker, Cana. Even the highly vaunted Thunder God Tribe was in attendance, although only Laxus held any kind of interest in the match.<p>

The two fire mages that were about to fight were standing twenty paces from each other. Both faces were stoic as they looked up and down the other. Makarov stepped forth from the group of mages huddled around the betting pool and made his presence clear to all those in attendance.

He cleared his throat quickly. "Alright, you two. There fight will go one until one of you can not continue or until I say so. Otherwise, there will be a time limit of twenty minutes. Do you understand?"

Both the Exorcist and the Dragon Slayer nodded at their diminutive master and lowered themselves into fighting stances. Makarov raised his right arm over his head and a slight surge of magic power and increase in temperature could be felt coming from the two combatants.

"Ready?"

A larger buildup of energy and another jump in the temperature could be felt. All the spectators could feel sweat start to bead on their necks from the sudden change in heat.

"Begin!"

Both mages launched themselves at each other with brilliant flashes of flame as the two concentrated their infernos to their clenched hands.

"**Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!**"

"**Rulag mol sey'da!**"

Both fists collided, creating an explosion of brilliant shades of orange and green. Several of the spectating mages in attendance brought their arms up to shield themselves from the sudden burst of heat and light as some of the others stared in disbelief.

"Another fire mage?"

"He's not a Dragon Slayer, is he?"

The thrum of conversation was quickly snuffed out by the rapid fire shockwaves from the two fire mages connecting their blows to the other. The two began to quickly exchange a flurry of blows, some of them finding their intended target, but the majority being blocked or parried. After a couple minutes of the rapid exchange, the two fire wielders pushed off from each other and landed thirty paces away. Another surge of energy could be felt as well as the accompanying rise in temperature. The more astute mages in attendance noticed that the chests of the two fire mages locked in combat began to take deep breaths

"**Fire Dragon's...**"

"**Rulag mol...**"

"**Roar!**"

"**Tor viir!**"

Torrents of flame spewed from the mouths of both mages and rocketed away towards the other. Both opposing torrents met in the middle, creating another explosion but quickly vanishing into the green column created by the Exorcist and continued to careen towards Natsu. The Dragon Slayer barely had enough time to brace himself for the impact of flames. The inferno made contact with the Dragon Slayer and created a flash of emerald and a rumble that was shortly followed by dirt and debris being kicked up into the air.

"What the hell was that?" Gray asked in disbelief.

Erza's eyes were trained on Kazro. The red and white striped shirt he had been wearing was starting to tear in places, most notably on his ribcage. Black markings could be seen through the small rips in the shirt. Her concentration on the Exorcist was broken by a trail of orange fire engulfing him.

The air around both mages finally settled, revealing Natsu breathing heavily with his vest missing and dirt and mud caked into his pink hair. Kazro's shirt had been blown away by the most recent blast and his hair had come loose, hanging down to his shoulders.

'He still has his old mark?' Erza asked herself as she glanced between Kazro, Natsu and Makarov.

Makarov had been thinking the same thing. His black eyes were moving back and forth between his newest member and one of the standard bearers of the guild. A slight smile found its way to the old master's face and a chuckle could be heard coming from his throat. The question about the mark could wait. This little match was turning out to be a lot more entertaining than he would have thought.. His eyes moved between the faces of both fire mages locked in combat. Natsu's face was one of excitement and happiness as was the case when he was pitted against an opponent of equal or greater skill. Kazro's face was slightly harder to read but a smirk could be seen through the little bit of dust that still hung in the air.

"Well your reputation is well deserved, Salamander." The words from Kazro pierced the sudden quiet that had fallen upon the battlefield.

"Thanks. So this is Exorcism magic?" Natsu spoke between ragged breaths.

Kazro nodded at the Dragon Slayer and opened his mouth to speak again. "So are we done with the warm-up?"

"Come at me!" Natsu exclaimed as fire began to swirl around his body.

Kazro lowered himself slightly as emerald flames began to swallow his limbs. Both fire users vanished in a flash. Every pair of eyes looked around desperately trying to find the sounds of blows landing, but were met by an empty clearing in the forest. An exclamation and a finger raised to the sky caused all in attendance to look up to the few scattered clouds. Kazro and Natsu were exchanging feet and fists as they careened through the air. Natsu could be heard yelling his spells and a trail of explosions trailed behind the two aerial fighters. One last spell could be heard coming from a booming voice. A brilliant flash of green appeared in the air and a head of pink hair could be seen flying at a breakneck speed to the ground before impacting and bouncing once before settling. Natsu was out cold with a handful of bruises being visible on his torso and a small trail of blood coming from his nose and lower lip. Kazro could be seen descending and used small bursts of fire to stabilize himself as he landed.

"And the winner is Kazro!" Makarov exclaimed with an arm raised.

Looks of disbelief were exchanged between most of the mages who had seen the fight. If anything, they had expected the fight to drag on for the full twenty minutes instead of ending in ten. Erza stared at the Exorcist with interest. His breathing indicated that he was not even close to being winded. Her eyes kept coming back to the same thing that caught her attention the first time she had met him. The mark of his old guild was on full display but it no longer had the emerald green hue that it originally possessed. By this point, the entire crowd had surrounded the two mages as Kazro woke up the unconscious Dragon Slayer and pulled him to his feet.

'So this is what Fire Devil Slayer magic looks like. I really hope he doesn't destroy half a town, but I probably shouldn't hold my breath for that." Makarov thought to himself with a chuckle.

He turned on his heels and started to make his way back to the guildhall. He wanted to beat his brats back so he could get the first crack at what Mirajane was making for lunch. Once some of the mages had seen Makarov leave, they decided to follow suit, not wanting to miss out on the food as well. Several of them shot quick glances at the Exorcist as he walked over to a pack he had left under a tree at the edge of the clearing. The only two that remained there after a handful of minutes were Kazro and Erza.

The Knightess approached the black haired man who had put his hair back into a loose bun and was rummaging around in his pack for an intact shirt.

"You held back, didn't you?" She asked without the aura of intimidation she usually kept up around the rest of the guild.

"Was it that obvious?" A slight grin had found his face.

Her eyes softened slightly as she chuckled. "Either way, thanks for not hurting him too much."

"I get the feeling that I'd have to worry about the blonde more than you if I had gone overboard."

Erza could not help but giggle at Kazro's observation. He was right, too. While Natsu and Lucy weren't officially in a relationship, it was more or less understood that the two were an item. Erza got one last look at the Shattered Grin mark on Kazro's rib cage before it was covered up by another shirt, this one being just a plain white t-shirt but the mark could just barely be seen through it. Kazro slung the pack onto his right shoulder and the two mages left in the clearing started the short walk back to Fairy Tail.

"Just curious, but why do you still have the mark of your old guild?" Erza asked while looking between the Fairy Tail mark on his neck and where the mark of his old guild should be on his rib cage.

"It's actually a physical tattoo. You probably noticed the color of it being different, right?" He received a nod before continuing. "Well only the green was magic based. Got any other questions for me?"

Erza blinked. This was the first time he had actually offered to answer some questions without sounding sarcastic or cutting the conversation short.

"What can you tell me about your old family?"

Kazro raised an eyebrow at the redhead before opening his mouth. "How much time do you got to stay here and listen?"

"Plenty." She replied with one of her rare smiles that exuded warmth.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Alright, dudes. Sorry it took me a while to finally upload this. I've been having issues with writer's block, as is tradition. Thanks for reading and leave a review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Alright, people. Just a heads up that this chapter will probably come across as being fairly long-winded but I really did not want to break any of it up for the sake of out it would flow. As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think.**

The sound of someone banging on the door to his apartment wrenched Kazro out of the realm of sleep. He sat up in bed, groggily rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. The sun was just now starting to peek over the horizon, leaving streaks of red and orange splayed across the patchy clouds that were slowly starting to grow in number and size. Kazro rose to his feet and hastily threw on the first pair of pants he could find and half-stumbled to the source of the knocking. He reached the door and looked through the peephole in an effort to see who was there at this ungodly hour. All he could see was a shadow in the shape of a woman.

"Who's there?" He called to the other side of the door.

"It's me, Kazro. Let me in."

He recognized the muffled voice coming from the other side. It belonged to Erza. Kazro quickly turned the deadbolt and opened the door to be greeted by the red headed Knightess in a surprisingly casual state of dress. A simple blue skirt, knee high boots and a sleeveless button-up shirt covering her frame with her hair cascading freely down her back.

"Come on in." Kazro motioned with his head as he opened the door wider for Erza to enter. "Why are you here this early in the morning?"

"Master has a couple errands he needs us to run." She replied simply.

"And they couldn't wait till later in the day for what reason?" He asked while trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

"He didn't say. All he told me was that it has something to do with tracking down a Dark Guild before the start of this year's Grand Magic Games. He needs us at the guild as soon as possible."

Kazro shrugged and popped his neck. "Either way, I'm going to make some coffee and take a shower before we go anywhere. Want a cup?"

Erza nodded and kept her eyes on Kazro as he disappeared into the kitchen. When he had vanished from sight, she reached for a lamp and flipped the switch controlling it. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the deceptively bright source and looked around what appeared to be a living room. It was simple and only had a handful of furnishings. A table was set up near the apartment's entrance and held a secondhand Lacrimavision set. Directly across from it was a simple oak coffee table in front of a gray and blue striped couch that looked almost as comfortable as a hotel bed.

'Seems like he moved in to this place in a hurry.' She thought with a light chuckle.

She took a deep breath and could smell the onset of a fresh pot of coffee. She let the scent fill her lungs and exhaled contentedly. Erza did not drink it often, but it was always a pleasant smell in the early mornings. Kazro reappeared holding two cups and handed one of them to the Knightess before disappearing again, this time down a short and narrow hallway. Erza chuckled to herself again. It seemed to her like Fairy Tail's newest member was not a fan of mornings by any stretch. Her eyes roamed around the living room again. They quickly settled on a banner hanging on the far wall near the hallway. It was white with a red border and looked as if it had seen better days. The emblem stood out to the scarlet haired mage the most.

'He must have salvaged it from his old guild, but I can't tell if he's even tried to repair the tears in it.'

Her train of thought came to a halt with the sound of boots resonating quietly on the wooden floor of the apartment. Erza quickly finished what remained of her coffee and sat the empty cup on the table beside her.

"If you don't have much else to do then I will meet you at the guild." She called down the hall.

All she received in reply was something between a grunt and an actual sentence that indicated an understanding of what Erza had just said. She exited the apartment and gave the banner hanging in the room one last look before closing the door behind her and making the short trek to the guildhall.

Magnolia was just now starting to rouse itself from its own slumber as the sun continued to slowly rise. The air was cool and crisp. The last vestiges of winter were clinging as best they could with the onset of spring and the warmer weather that came with it. Thoughts began to churn in the redhead's mind. She had no idea why her and Kazro needed to meet with Makarov so early in the morning, but their master had made it clear that it was a matter of urgency, especially with this year's edition of the Grand Magic Games looming just over the horizon. Erza shook the thought from her head. Worrying about it now would do little good. She looked up at the large building looming in front of her. Her ruminations had apparently distracted her from how long of a walk it was from Kazro's apartment to the hall.

'Already? I know I was lost in thought but I didn't realize I was that far gone.' She smiled inwardly.

Erza pushed open the doors to the main hall and took a seat at the bar, making her presence known to the white haired woman behind the counter. She shot a quick glance around the rest of the hall, but could find no trace of the man who had made it abundantly clear that he wanted her and the Exorcist there as early as possible.

"Morning, Erza. Need something to eat?"

Erza's turned to look at the source of the question. She smiled softly at the white haired bartender and placed an order for a breakfast consisting of eggs, sausage and a couple slices of an orange. A plate full of food was placed in front of her after a few minutes and she begun to absent-mindedly pick away at the food. The sense of urgency that had been in Makarov's voice over the communication lacrima in her room had been troubling her. The master almost never used them, preferring to wait till the members arrive on their own before asking them to do something. What was stranger was that she could have sworn she had heard another voice in the background that sounded vaguely familiar.

No sooner had she finished her food, did the door leading to Makarov's office on the upper floor open. Erza looked up to the balcony and saw Makarov leaving the office while being followed closely by a man with his hair in a neat bun and wearing the uniform of the Rune Knights. The two men quickly made their way down the stairs and approached the bar.

"Where's Kazro?" Makarov asked Erza.

"He's on his way. It shouldn't be too much longer before he gets here." Erza replied as she looked between the two men. "Why is Lahar here?"

"I'm here on official Council business. And we require the abilities of you and one of your newest members." Lahar stated flatly. "More specifically, the business deals with a possible attempt on the King's life at the upcoming games."

"Mira, we're going to the storage room. Send Kazro down when he gets here."

"Sure thing, Master." She said with a smile despite the apparent gravity of the situation.

The group of three quickly moved to one of the rooms underneath the main hall. Erza did not venture down to this part of the building often, mainly because what was down there was of little to no interest to her. She looked to the far side of the room. There was a man sitting in a wooden chair, with a blindfold over his eyes, his mouth was gagged and he was tied to the armrest and legs. She was instantly confused, but her attention turned to the door which opened to reveal Kazro. He was still yawning and had a look on his face that clearly indicated that he was irritated.

"Now just why in the hell were we told to be h-" His eyes had landed on the Rune Knight in the room. "Better question. Why the hell is one of those here?" He made no effort to hide his disdain for the other man clad in white.

"Oh, good. You're here."

Kazro looked down to see the Fairy Tail master motion for him to enter the room and close the door behind him. The Exorcist complied and stepped further into the room without taking his eyes off Lahar. Once inside, he slung his pack off his shoulders and set it on a nearby table next to a handful of empty mugs that had been missed during the last cleanup.

The Rune Knight was the first to break the awkward silence that had settled between him and Kazro. "You must be the one Makarov told me about. If even half of what he said is true then your skills will be invaluable here."

Kazro grimaced slightly. "And just what is it that you want?"

"It's simple. We need you and Erza to perform an interrogation." Lahar's voice held a barely noticeable sense of urgency.

Kazro looked to the other side of the room. He saw the man, clearly unconscious and still bound to a chair. He studied him for a while and caught a glimpse of some kind of red mark poking out from the man's left sleeve and what looked like a continuation of it rising just above the collar of his shirt. He quickly dismissed it for the time being, deciding instead to focus on why an interrogation was needed.

"Wouldn't the Council be more suited for something like this?" Erza asked.

"Usually, yes. Unfortunately, this case is one of the few exceptions." Lahar answered.

"What do you mean?" Makarov interjected.

"Time is a major factor here. Also, according to some reports I've received, there is a mage in this room who is very capable of performing one."

Three pairs of eyes drifted to Kazro with varying levels of uncertainty, the most of which came from the Knightess. Thoughts began to swirl in Erza's mind, but she quickly put an end to those until she could actually talk to the Exorcist without other people listening. Kazro made eye contact with Lahar and scoffed.

"Let me guess. It was one of Torrin's reports, wasn't it?" Kazro asked while already knowing the answer.

Lahar continued as if he hadn't heard Kazro. "Makarov Dreyar, if Fairy Tail can produce information that leads to countering the plot I mentioned earlier, then the outstanding charges for property damage will be forgiven."

The discussion between the Rune Knight and the Fairy Tail members was interrupted but the sound of sniffing followed by a raspy chuckle. The source was the bound and blindfolded man on the other side of the room.

"I'm not telling any of you a damn thing! Especially not that bitch, Titania."

The voice was deep and hoarse with a rough, piercing laugh punctuating Erza's moniker. The redhead felt a flash of anger and was about to requip a sword into an anxious hand when she felt a hand from behind rest on her shoulder. She looked back with fury still in her eyes to see a stone faced Kazro staring at the prisoner. The man sniffed the air again and perked his ears as he tried to listen in on the conversation that he had derailed.

"And is that a familiar smell?" He sniffed twice more. "I knew it. It's that son of a whore, Fhlosten. How much did your whore of a guild matron scream as she died?"

Erza felt the grip on her shoulder tighten through her pauldron and shifted from the building heat focusing in the same spot. She looked back again at Kazro and saw his eyes flash green for a brief second before he relinquished his grip.

"Alright, Rune Knight. Consider it done." Kazro stated to raucous laughter from the other side of the room.

Kazro launched a small fireball at the man's torso, hitting him dead on in the gut and effectively silencing him temporarily.

"Master Makarov, if you and Erza wish to keep what respect you have for me, then it might be a good idea for the two of you to leave the room." He added.

Erza looked between Kazro, Lahar, and Makarov. The latter two nodded at her. She shot another glance at Kazro. His jaw was clenched and his eyes looked as if they were now trying to bore through who Lahar had brought with him. She reluctantly left the room and looked behind her at the Exorcist once again as she rounded a corner, taking the room out of sight. Makarov was not far behind, but he left a small magic circle beside the threshold as he exited. The Fairy Tail master and one of his strongest mages might now be blind, but they would at least be able to hear what would happen next.

"Aww did they get their feelings hurt? You're so mean, Fhlosten." The captive teased. "You know, I was the one that told Twilight Flare about where your guild's little pl-"

He had been cut off mid-sentence by Kazro pushing the chair over, causing it to topple backwards. The unnamed man had the air knocked out of him. He struggled to regain his breath but was only able fill his lungs halfway when a boot pressed down on his sternum. He could feel a sharp heat emanating from above him and opened his eyes to see Kazro leaned over him, the silver eyes reflecting the green flames and showing a controlled and calculated fury.

"Speak another word about Titania or my Matron and the last of your sight will be spent watching my thumbs pressing into your eyes." Kazro growled in a way that sounded more demonic than human.

The detainee recoiled as much as he could with a boot on his chest and his limbs restrained. A laugh soon escaped from between his lips as he was righted by Kazro.

"Heh. You won't kill me." He proclaimed mockingly.

"You're right. You're worth more alive." The prisoner smiled arrogantly, confident in his safety. "However, there are things in this life that are much worse than death." A sickening chuckle escaped Kazro's throat. "And I can do all of them. Now answer the Rune Knight's questions."

Makarov and Erza sat in silence as they listened in on the room through the circle that had been placed in the room. Erza glanced uncomfortably at Makarov. She was no stranger to interrogations from both sides, but it was all she could do to try ignoring the fact that what was happening in the basement may very well become an exercise in torture. They had been staring intently at the magic circle on Makarov's desk. Every little thing that was said or done could be heard as if they were in the same room two levels down. The Knightess shifted in her seat again.

"Erza. You don't have to stay in here if you're uncomfortable." Makarov said softly.

Erza opened her mouth to protest but no words were able to be formed. She closed her mouth and instead focused her attention on the glowing magic circle that had bathed the room in a warm yellow light. The urge to leave the room had grown slightly. She would wince when paying attention to the magic circle. Her own morbid curiosity was forcing her to stay there and listen.

"No. I want to stay." She replied as she swallowed nervously.

The air in the makeshift interrogation room was stifling. Between the lack of any kind of circulation and Kazro manipulating the temperature with his magic, the prisoner was beginning to sweat through his shirt. The bound man and Kazro made eye contact but it was soon broken by Kazro turning his back to rummage around in his pack. Less than twenty seconds later, he had found the subject of his search. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a flame dancing off his finger. The Exorcist placed the half-full pack of cigarettes on the table, confident that he would be returning to it at least one more time before he left the room.

"I don't remember your voice, but that rat-like face of yours is a different story." Smoke trailed lazily out of Kazro's mouth as he spoke. "If I remember right, then you're cannon fodder for a dark guild based in Stella. And if that's the case, why the fuck are you in Fiore?"

The prisoner chortled and spat at Kazro's feet. Kazro's face contorted into an expression of disgust as the saliva landed just shy of his left foot. He took another drag off the cigarette and exhaled the smoke in the prisoner's face, earning a handful of coughs and short fit of rapid blinking. The Exorcist held the index finger of his free hand over the left hand of the prisoner and muttered a short incantation, causing a series of magic circles to appear on the prisoner's fingers.

Kazro stood behind the prisoner and lowered his voice. "I'll let you in on a little secret. My magic was originally developed centuries ago to send demons back to the underworld. After a while, almost all of the demons had been suppressed with the occasional straggler breaking free from the realm of the dead. It was during that little interim period that various kingdoms across the continent started using this same magic to quell rebellions and carry out inquisitions. Not many people know about that last part and even fewer know the methods that were used. Now I will ask you again. You will answer, or you will start losing fingers." Another flash of green streaked across his eyes as he continued. "Why are you in Fiore?"

The prisoner steeled his face and stared at Kazro as if he were trying to bore a hole through him. "Go to hell."

"Wrong answer. **Tor'na.**"

The magic circle on the prisoner's left pinky began to glow brighter than the rest and then activated, burning it off from the second knuckle to the tip. An ear-piercing scream sounded through the room followed by a fit of cursing and heavy breathing as the prisoner tried to regain his composure.

"What the hell are you doing, Exorcist!?" Lahar yelled.

Kazro turned his head toward the Rune Knight and spoke over his shoulder. "You're the one that asked for my skills. If anything, Torrin should have told you about my methods. If you think you can get answers out of him, then be my fucking guest. Otherwise, sit down and shut your damn mouth." He turned back to the prisoner once more. "Why are you in Fiore? Speak!"

The prisoner winced and recoild as much as he could while having all of his movement restricted. He looked at Lahar in disbelief over what was happening and then at his left hand. The magic circle that had activated just seconds ago was still at the base of his pinky and the other four on his left hand were sitting idle He bit his lip as he tried to get his thoughts together.

"Time's up. **Tor'vo.**"

The prisoner's eyes went wide with fear as he braced himself for the searing pain that soon followed. Another blood curdling scream escaped his throat as the circle that was at the base of his smallest digit disappeared, leaving behind a blackened nub. When the screaming subsided, he looked at his hand again. The realization that the Exorcist was far more hard-nosed than the Council began to dawn on him. The fear of a very real threat of something far worse than death began to claw at his mind.

"Answer the goddamn question!" The Exorcist barked.

"Okay. Okay. I'll talk." The prisoner utter between ragged breaths.

At this point, Lahar took over the questioning. The course of the next two hours were filled with the sounds of a man speaking as fast as he could out of fear for the Exorcist still in the room and Lahar scribbling down notes at a dizzying pace. Kazro stood in the far corner of the room and had lit another cigarette, never taking his eyes off the prisoner. As soon as Lahar had finished with his questions, he motioned for Kazro to follow him out of the room and into the hallway underneath the guild. Kazro nodded but looked at the prisoner one more time, noting the markings poking out from his sleeve and collar.

"One minute, Rune Knight. There's one more question that I need answered." Kazro spoke without a trace of the anger that was in his voice earlier as he rummaged around in his pack again before pulling out a short folding knife.

The Exorcist flicked his wrist, causing the blade to flip out of the handle and lock in place. He approached the prisoner, who was now preparing for the worst as he shuddered in fear and hoped that it would be ended quick. That end never came, but he was instead greeted by what felt like cool air hitting his skin along his left shoulder to his neck. All he heard next was a growl followed by the sound of the knife being hurled through the air before becoming lodged in one of the stones that made up the wall on the far side of the room. Kazro grabbed his pack and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Something wrong?" The Rune Knight offered only token courtesy to Kazro.

"The mark that was on his collarbone."

"What of it?"

"It belongs to a dark guild that specializes in assassinations and human trafficking. Those sons of bitches were also known to pal around with Twilight Flare. In short, your job just got a lot fucking harder."

Lahar chuckled slightly and started to flip through a small book that he had pulled out from the inside of his jacket. Kazro looked him over as the Rune Knight's fingers deftly rifled through the pages before finally tearing one out and handing it to the Exorcist.

"Contact information? Why do I need this?" Kazro asked while already knowing the next thing that would come out of Lahar's mouth.

"That's one of our agents in Stella. They'll tell you where to go from there."

"And I should accept this job for what reason?"

"Otherwise, you'll have to stand trial for aggravated assault with intent to kill." The Rune Knight's features hardened as he spoke. "You should leave now. I'll notify Master Makarov of you involvement with an official Council matter. I expect an update in three days."

Kazro scoffed and muttered a string of curses as he briskly made his way out the Fairy Tail guildhall and across Magnolia to the train station. As he stood at the platform he looked around and took a deep breath, letting the early Spring air fill his lungs. He felt something or someone tap on his should and he wheeled around to find the source. Brilliant red hair and deep brown eyes greeted him. He could not help but grimace slightly as he realized it was Erza.

"How much of the interrogation did you hear?" He cut straight to the point and prayed to the gods that she heard nothing.

Erza looked down and shuffled her feet. "All of it. And Master told me that you were forced to do a job for the Council in another country. You know, there's a good chance you'll miss the games coming up soon."

"Damn, I forgot about those. I'll make a bet with you." He said, causing the redhead to perk up at the mention of a friendly wager. "If I get back before the games are over, then I get to take you out sometime."

"And if you don't?"

"No clue. That'll be for you to decide." He chuckled.

"I'm sure I can figure out something for you to do. Just-" She paused as she tried to find the right way to voice her thoughts. "Just come back in one piece." She gave the Exorcist one of her rare warm smiles.

The Knightess received a smile back in return. Something else was clawing at her mind though. Before either of the two could react, she had thrown her arms around Kazro's neck and pulled him into an embrace neither of the two had seen coming. Kazro broke the hug as the train whistle resounded throughout the station. He looked back at Erza and flashed her another smile and waved as he disappeared on to the car. Erza turned on her heels and walked out of the station and back to the guildhall. When she got outside, she was greeted by Makarov sitting on one of several benches in front of the terminal.

"You know he cares about you, right?"

Erza simply nodded and smiled at the man who was the closest thing she had to a father since she was a child. The two mages walked in silence back to the guildhall, both of them hoping that Kazro would return from Stella sooner rather than later.


	9. Chapter 9

Two figures stood atop Domus Flau, the main arena for the Grand Magic Games. Their view of the stadium, its occupants, and its events, was unobstructed. One of the figures wore an olive green cloak with the hood drawn, covering the top half of his face. A bandage covered left arm was exposed through a few holes that the owner had not bothered to get fixed. The other figure wore the traditional white officer's regalia of the Rune Knights. His long dark hair had been neatly pulled back into a bun, keeping it from getting tangled in his glasses.

"I've held up my end of the contract, Rune Knight. Void Surge has been eliminated along with all of its subordinate guilds." The cloaked man's voice was deep and showed some signs of irritation. "Are we done?"

Lahar took in the figure before him. He had noticed the man's left arm looked less human and more like it had once belonged to a demon. He frowned internally as he began trying to work out how the man's arm had changed so radically in a span of only two months. The Rune Knight captain quickly shrugged the issue off to the corners of his mind for the present.

"I'm aware of your actions in Stella. I'm actually impressed that no civilians were caught up in it. Even more so given that a handful of their branches were in major cities." The Rune Knight replied with a slight smile. "And seeing how you saved a countless number of lives, yes. We are done. Go enjoy the rest of the games with your guild."

The man in the dark cloak turned his back to the Rune Knight, giving a wave with a right arm possessing a handful of scars and descended a nearby flight of stairs, blending in with the crowd filling the stadium. The Council official stayed in place while searching through his jacket's inner pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a small communication lacrima. He tapped it with his index finger three times and it began to hover in the air at an arm's length away from his face. The lacrima soon began to hum as it began pulsing with magic energy. A projection of the meeting chamber for the heads of the Magic Council appeared in front of the Rune Knight. He bowed as a show of respect to the members of the Council that could actually be seen.

"We just received your full report, Lahar. You did well in dismantling that dark guild so fast." The voice was coming from outside of Lahar's field of view. It was aged, rough, and oozed an air of authority. "But there is a question that a couple of us are wanting answered."

"And what would that be, sir?"

"How did you get this Fhlosten guy to go along with it?" Another voice asked. This one was feminine but the source was still unseen.

"I essentially gave Fairy Tail a pass on a good chunk of future property damage they will cause."

"You didn't." The female voice asked with disbelief. "Do you have any idea how much damage they cause when they already know they'll have to cough up the money for it!?"

"Given the gravity of the situation they helped to thwart, I felt that it was appropriate." Lahar responded coolly.

The voice of the leader took his turn to speak. "Fine. But they'll have a one-time limit for destruction. After that, then it's back to business as usual."

The Rune Knight nodded in acceptance. He quickly made a mental note to relay the information to the Fairy Tail master as he dismissed himself from the conversation and turned off the lacrima. He looked down at the arena floor once more. Mages from the guilds that made it through the elimination round were gathered in the center while the referee began to explain the event that was about to take place. The voice of the announcer could be heard echoing across the stands to sounds of cheers from the stands. He was quickly able to spot the person he had sent to Stella for the past two months as the cloaked figure was circling around just over the level holding the competing guilds. The cloaked man was nearing his destination as he shot sidelong glances at the arena floor. His eyes caught a head of flowing red hair that cascaded down a breastplate. He smiled at the sight as he continued to where the rest of the Fairy Tail mages were in attendance.

None of the members there seemed to pay much attention to the cloaked figure approaching them with the exception of the one Fairy Tail mage on the arena floor and the elderly man with the unenviable task of keeping one of the country's most destructive guilds in line. The grizzled master was the first to greet the approaching man.

"Welcome back to Fiore, Kazro!" He said with a smile while beckoning him to join. "Are you just getting in?"

Kazro pulled down his hood, revealing the top half of his face and his long black hair pulled lazily into a loose ponytail. A rare smile crept onto his face as he greeted Makarov.

"Yep. And I'm guessing Lahar filled you in on everything?"

Makarov's face took on a temporary aura of seriousness as he nodded. His face quickly reverted back to the jovial air that was surrounding the rest of the crowd in attendance.

"What event is this?" Kazro asked as his attention drifted to the arena.

"Supposedly it's going to be a labyrinth of some sort with the finish line in the center."

"Should be interesting."

A gust of wind blew through the stadium, exposing the Exorcist's left arm bandaged from the shoulder down to the Fairy Tail master. The hand on arm in question didn't look quite human, but almost claw-like, as if it had been taken straight from a demon. Makarov quizzically raised an eyebrow but quickly turned his attention back to the event about to get started. A purple magic circle that spanned the entire arena floor flashed into existence. All the mages that were gathered to participate vanished as smaller circles appeared under them. While the mages were nowhere to be seen, the ground underneath the arena wide circle began to shudder as stone walls began to rise into a labyrinthine arrangement with multiple levels.

Each of the eight participating mages was sent to different starting points scattered across the edges. On the top level of the labyrinth stood a banner with the word 'Finish' written across it in bold lettering. A large projection appeared on the screen and was split into eight sections, each one following a different mage. Kazro's eyes quickly zeroed in on the mage with a blue Fairy Tail mark poking out through a gap between two sections of her armor. His silver eyes darted over the projection, taking in the faces of the other seven competitors. A lean man with spiked ice blue hair and another man with a heavily muscled build and long, wild turquoise hair were the first two that stood out to the Exorcist.

"Vastia and Nanagear, huh? This really could be interesting." He muttered to himself.

His eyes reached the last section and stopped.

"No. It can't be." A smirk began to pull at the corner of his mouth.

Displayed on the last section was a man with pale skin and shaggy blood red hair that streaks of white toward the ends. His eyes were green with thin brows resting on top of them. A hoked nose rested over a pair of thin lips and a narrow jaw with a small scar running longways along the right side of it.

"Something catch your attention?" The question was enough to jerk Kazro's eyes away from the screen and to Makarov.

"That man with the red and white hair. He's not your run of the mill mage. What guild is he in?" Kazro's eyes drifted back to the projection.

"I want to say he's in Honor Shield." The master replied, still unsure of the sudden unease in the Exorcist's voice.

The section of the screen showing the subject of their conversation zoomed out to show the rest of his body. A white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows covered his lithe frame and was tucked into a pair of black dress pants. A pair of shiny black shoes finished off the ensemble. Kazro focused his attention on a guild emblem on the inside of the man's right forearm. A dark blue outline of two swords crossed over a shield.

"Has he fought yet?"

Makarov shook his head and answered. "It's only the second day. And this year's format will be different. All the guilds are saving their strongest for the last two days. Is this your way of saying you want to participate?"

Kazro nodded and turned back to the projection with the same smirk from earlier still on his face.

"And... BEGIN!" The voice of the announcer rang throughout the stadium and was easily heard by all the mages in the labyrinth.

The turquoise haired man, Orga Nanagear of Sabertooth, was the first to make an attempt at using magic. He extended his arms out in front of him and dropped his stance as black electricity began to crackled around his body. He yelled an incantation and aimed his palms up to the ceiling above him. A torrent of black lightning shot forth from his hands and managed to blow a hole through two levels of the maze and off into the sky. The attack quickly dissipated, leaving Orga in the same stance but with a slight grin on his face. The Sabertooth mage paused to grin at his handiwork before jumping up through the holes that he had created in the maze. His emergence at the top level near the finish earned a round of raucous cheers from the crowd with a handful of boos and jeers. He was the first to reach the goal, earning his guild a quick win and the accompanying points to go with it.

A column of black ice pierced through the labyrinth on the other side and quickly receded, giving way to a handful of mages locked in a struggle of impeding the others. Amongst them were Lyon Vastia of Lamia Scale, the pale skinned man from Honor Shield, and Erza Scarlet, who was rapidly catching up to the other two. Lyon began trading blows with the other man, but was half a step slow as he received a swift kick to the ribcage followed shortly by a hook from the Honor Shield mage's long, sinewy arms. Lyon assumed a casting stance and produced a flurry of ice familiars shaped as a flock of eagles. The man from Honor Shield dodged easily but grabbed one of the ice eagles out of the air. His dark green eyes pored over the icy figure before snapping off a wing and placing it in his mouth and chewing. A look of grim satisfaction crept across his face as he made eye contact with one of Lamia Scale's top mages.

"He's eating his ice? What the hell is he?" Kazro looked to the source of the question and found Gray with a look of shock on his face.

"That man is Oleg Federov. He's known by many as the 'Ice God.'" Kazro replied flatly.

"Ice God? How have I never heard of him?" Another question from Fairy Tail's ice mage.

"He was one of the Council's best kept secrets. Any time a dark guild needed to be crushed and the Council needed it done quick and quiet, they would send him." Kazro answered. "I've had to work with the bastard several times."

Makarov overheard the answers given and could easily sense a mixture of disdain and begrudging respect in the Exorcist's voice. A small chuckle lodged itself in his throat.

"It seems the boy has picked up a bit more fire in the two months he was gone. This could end up being one hell of a good time." Makarov thought quietly to himself.

The exchange that was occuring between the Lyon and the man known as Oleg was getting more intense as Fairy Tail's Titania joined into the fray. The three way skirmish was slowly making its way to the goal on top of the multilevel stone structure that housed the event. All three mages were attacking and dodging two different ways with each flourish drawing a chorus of oohs and ahhs from the crowd. After a frenetic couple of minutes, the three broke away and landed in a triangle formation. Lyon was the first to turn his back, launching himself to the finish line in an effort to be the second to reach the end. He was stopped by a column of black ice shooting up from the ground in front of him and an armor covered hand grabbing his leg at the ankle. Erza yanked her arm back, pulling Lyon with it. Oleg had since caught up to the two and caught Lyon across the chest with an ice enhanced lariat.

The two mages that remained on their feet quickly exchanged glances, looked to the finish just over two hundred meters away, then back to each other. After a brief hesitation, they both launched themselves toward their goal. A flash of light enveloped Erza and faded just as quickly as it came to reveal her in a suit of black armor with a set of wings on the back. She picked her feet up and willed her magic power into the suit, boosting her speed dramatically. Oleg the Ice God wasted no time in summoning a burst of speed to match the Knightess. A sheet of black ice appeared under the Honor Shield mage's feet as the two racing participants began to exchange a flurry of blows. Spell names could be heard over the growing din of the crowd as the two drew closer to the finish line at a breakneck pace. The noise of the crowd reached a climax as the two mages crossed the finish line in a tie, leaving Lamia Scale's participant to settle for finishing in last place and earning no points for his guild.

The mages all exchanged courteous nods before returning to their respective guilds. As they exited the arena, a pair of magic circles appeared above and below the now broken maze. The area between the two circles glowed brightly for a few seconds then disappeared, taking the few intact pieces of the structure as well as the debris with them. A puff of smoke in the center of the arena drew the attention of all the spectators. When it had cleared, a man wearing a pumpkin outfit could be seen striking a series of poses meant to invigorate the already roaring crowd.

It lifted a microphone up to what would pass as its mouth. "Ladies and gentlemen! That is all that we have for you this morning. Come back in the afternoon when we'll have day two of the battles!"

The sound of footsteps and thrums of conversation filled the arena as throngs of people filed out of the stadium. The main topic was the let down of Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale finishing so far back in the maze event but still marveling at how climatic the end had been.

The sound of boots impacting the ground with an accompanying sound of metal brushing against metal could be heard steadily approaching the members of Fairy Tail. As Erza approached, she could see the same people who were there before she had jumped down into the arena plus another man just over a head taller than her. The black hair and the edges of the mark on his neck that she recognized to be the same as hers gave away who this man was.

"Kazro?" She asked while a smile began to appear on her face.

Kazro craned his neck to find the owner of the voice that had just called his name. The tone and timbre was instantly recognizable to him. He turned his body slightly to get a better look at the source and offered a smile to the armored redhead that had made herself known. The Exorcist had little chance to offer a greeting as Erza was instantly mobbed by her guildmates. Some of them offered congratulatory remarks for giving a herculean effort while the small number that did not fear her wrath began ribbing her over not being the first one to finish. She eventually managed to break free of the crowd of Fairy Tail mages who had all decided to go as a group to grab something to eat for lunch. Only three of the Fairy Tail mages remained.

Erza was the first to speak. "Sorry I was unable to win, master."

"Nonsense, Erza. You gave the crowd a hell of a show at the end, and that's what the games are about more than actually winning." Makarov replied with a jovial grin. "Now come on, you two. We can't let the rest of those brats eat the entire city clean!"

The elderly master bounded off the wall he was sitting on and took off after the rest of the guild with a speed that betrayed his advanced age. Kazro placed his right hand on Erza's shoulder and motioned with his head to catch up to the rest of the group. The two began walking at a leisurely pace, neither of them in too much of a hurry to deal with the crowds that they would inevitably reach once they left the stadium.

"I think you owe me a meal, Kazro." Erza teased while nudging the Exorcist with her elbow.

"Heh heh. I think you're right. I honestly didn't think you'd remember." Kazro teased back while rubbing the back of his head with the unbandaged arm.

"How was that little trip, and what happened to your arm?" Erza still had the same warm smile on her face.

"So you noticed, huh?" He replied as his tone became more serious before reverting back to what it was. "I wouldn't be able to fit the whole thing in over lunch. How about tonight, after half the guild tries to start out drinking each other?"

"Considering tomorrow is the day off, I don't see why not. How does eight sound?"

Kazro only smiled back at the Knightess. The nonverbal cue from the Exorcist was all Erza needed to see as the two arrived at the path that led back into Fiore's capitol. She would not admit to it, but she could feel something flutter in her stomach slightly as she thought ahead to the night.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So this chapter ended on a bit of a weak note/letdown, and yeah, I know. OCxErza fluff is probably what a lot of people don't like. Jellal is a punk. Deal with it.**


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